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THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE : 



A SEKIES OF CHAPTERS INTENDED TO 
PROMOTE TRUTH AND UNITY. 



By henry DUNN, 

OF THE hlilTlSH AND F li E J G N SCHOOL SOCIETY. 




NEW YORK: 

G. P. PUTNAM & SONS. 

ASSOCIATION BUILDING. 
1871. 



CONTENTS. 



Chap. 

I. On Biblical Interpretation .... 
II. The Bible a Neglected Book .... 

III. For what Purpose was Holy Scripture Given ? 

IV. Was the Bible Intended to be understood by the 

Unlearned 1 * . 
V. With what Authority does the Book speak ? . 
VI. What is meant by Inspiration .? . . . 

VII. On the Blindness of the Natural Man . 

VIII. On Special Light from Heaven 
IX. 071 distinguishing between Scripture Facts and 

Human Inferences ..... 

X. On Bias, as occasioned by Undue Reverence for Great 
or Good Men ...... 

XI. On Bias, as arising from the Affections . 
XII. Oft Bias, as arising from Personal and Ecclesiastical 
Interests ....... 

XIII. On what is often called Reading the Bible for ' Edi 

fcation^ ....... 

XIV. On Reading to ascertain the Sense . 
XV. On the Accommodation of Scripture 

XVI. On Perversions by Projection 

XVII. On the Exaggeration of Scripture 



PAGE 

I 

9 
II 

i6 

22 
28 
32 

36 
41 

51 

55 

59 

6x 
64 
67 

73 
81 



iv CONTENTS, 

CHAP, PAGE 

XVIII. 0?t Typical and Allegorical Interpretations . 90 

XIX. On Technical Terins in Scripture . . . 96 

XX. On the Use of Ecclesiastical Ter7?is in Scripture 102 
XXI. 0?i the Iiifluence of Hy7nns and other Sacred 

Poetry on Popular Interpretation . . . 107 

XXII. On Chu7xh Authority and the Creeds . . 112 

XXIII. The Council of Nice 117 

XXIV. Ge?iera I Principles , . . . . . 124 
XXV. On Shadows of the Past^ as affecting the Inter- 

pretation of Scripture . . . . .128 
XXVI. On Private Judgmeiit i?i the l7itejpretatio?i of 

Scripture . . . . . . - ^Zo 

XXVII. On the Study of Unfulfilled Prophecy,, as co?i- 

nected with the Literpretaiion of Scriptu7'e 

ge?ierally . . . . . . .140 

XXVIII. 0?t a Right Understandi7ig of the Dispensatio7i 

imder which we live . . , . .147 

XXIX. O71 the Use a7id Misuse of Pa7^allel Passages . 153 

XXX. O 71 Doidits a7id Difficulties . . . . 158 

XXXI. O71 Readi7ig the Sc7nptures with P7^ayer . . 165 

XXXII. On the Divisio7i of Scripture i7ito Chapters and 

Ve7'-ses^ with IIeadi7igs and Subscriptio7is . 175 

xxxiii. How Helps 77iay beco77ie Hindra7ices , . 180 

xxxi\'. Concluding Remarks . . . . . 189 



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THE STUDY OP THE BIBLE. 



CHAPTEE I. 

ON BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION. 

In preparing this Work we have simply asked ourselves 
one question, — ' WJiy is it that Christian people read the 
Bible so differently ? ' that conflicting Sects alike appeal 
to it as the sole authority for their respective views ? that 
Doctrines the most diverse are supposed to be equally well 
sustained by its statements ? that as age after age rolls on, 
each coming generation repeats, to a great extent, the 
opinions of its predecessors, — follows, as a rule, the same 
lines of thought, — lives nearly the same life, — nourishes 
the same prejudices, and stereotypes at once old formulas 
and old divisions ? 

In searching for an answer we have been led to conclude 
that the true explanation will be found in that prevailing 
neglect of the Bible, as a ivhole, which arises from its being 
almost always read in mere fragments ; in forgetfulness of 

* V^Te say ' to a great extent, ' because it would be foUy to deny that many 
important changes for the better, both in religious thought and action, have 
taken place during the last century. For these, let us be thankful. The 
general view we have taken is not, however, materially affected by this 
admission. 

B 



2 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

the particular purpose for which the Book was given ; in 
confusions regarding its Inspiration; in errors relating to 
the Holy Spirit ; in the confounding of revealed facts with 
human inferences; in Bias of one kind or another; in 
reading, either for 'edification/ or for the kindling of 
devout feeling, without first ascertaining the meaning of 
that which is read ; in the habit of accommodating Scrip- 
ture, or of perverting it, by the exaggeration, projection, or 
other misapplication of texts ; in allegorizing, under the 
influence of an unbridled fancy ; in the ahuse of Parallel 
passages and references ; in that dctrkening of the sense 
which is frequently occasioned by injudicious division into 
Chapters and Verses ; in the acceptance of interpretations 
drawn only from Hymns ; in the neglect and consequent 
abuse of unfulfilled Prophecy; in inattention to the character 
of the particular Dispensation under which we are living ; 
in errors as to Church Authority, and the value of Tradi- 
tion ; in undue reliance on the professional labours of the 
Clergy ; in tui*ning Helps into Hindrances ; and, above all, 
in habitual indifference to the demand Scripture makes on 
every man for prolonged study, as an essential pre-requisite 
to the elevation by its means of moral character. 

To each of these points we propose to direct attention. 

On Biblical Interpretation, regarded as a Science, we 
shaU offer only a few general remarks. 

This Science, like most others, has a History, by the 
study of which its value and character will best be 
understood. 

It commenced with the Jews, in relation, of course, to the 
Old Testament, and was carried on, with amazing learning 
and ingenuity, by the Eabbis for many centuries. It then 
comprised, on the one hand, the Traditions of the Church, 
and, on the other, the Expositions of the Doctors. The 



OK BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION, 3 

former were, for the most part, supposed to have been 
delivered to Moses while in the Mount, and subsequently 
transmitted, through Prophets and Priests, to later times ; 
the latter were the result of the accumulated wisdom of 
the ages. 

And now the question arises, — ' What was all this worthV 
Christ and His Apostles furnish us with a reply. Ye have 
made, says our Lord to the Pharisees, the commandment 
of God ' of none effect through your tradition ' (Mark vii. 
13). Ye are ' redeemed,' says St. Peter, from your 'vain 
conversation received hy tradition from your fathers' 
(1 Pet. i. 18). 'Beware,' says St. Paul, 'lest any man 
spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the 
tradition of men ' (Col. ii. 8). 

After the death of the Apostles, and the cessation of 
inspired oral teaching, the New Testament became subject 
to the very same process which had destroyed the A^alue of 
the Old. Tradition again raised its head. The Apostles, 
it was said, delivered many things to the Primitive Church 
only by word of mouth ; which things, having been trans- 
mitted through faithful men, ought to be regarded, in some 
cases, as authorized explanations of the written Word, and 
in other cases as useful additions to its testimony; — a 
theory which, as before, soon made the commandment of 
God of none effect. Eocposition speedily followed; and 
under the impression that Truth was to be developed out of 
the Bible, rather than found in it, men, mighty in intellect, 
but not above their age in Divine knowledge, — sometimes 
ambitious of power, and often superstitious, — ^laid broad 
and deep the foundations of Systematic Theology. 

Three eras in the growth of this Science may be dis- 
tinctly marked. 

T\iQ first is that of Origen, who was born about ninety 



4 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

years after the death of the Apostle John, and who, as an 
Expositor, exercised great influence in his day. Eegarding 
him, as we fairly may, as the Eepresentative Man of his 
time, we find that now a two-fold sense, and a four-fold 
application, were supposed to attach to almost every text 
ia Scripture, — a method of interpretation loose enough for 
the exercise of the most lively fancy, and eminently 
favourable to the incursions of subtle intellects. Under 
this treatment the simplicity of Evangelical Truth rapidly 
disappeared. 

The second era is that of Vincent of Lerins (a.d. 440), 
who, partly in consequence of the interminable varieties of 
opinion introduced by the Mystics, and partly to prevent 
the growth of any sentiment unfavourable to Church 
ascendency, laid down this rule, — Xothing is to be re- 
ceived as Gospel truth which has not been * believed 
everywhere, always, and by all.' This formula, which was 
intended to confine the interpretation of Scripture to the 
explanations of the more orthodox Ecclesiastics, was gene- 
rally adopted during the 'Middle Ages,' and is still the 
stronghold of the advocates of what are usually called 
' Chuech Ppjxciples.' 

The third era is that of the Eeformers, who set out with 
a profession of adherence to the Kteral and grammatical 
meaning of the Word, but were very soon driven into the 
adoption of most of the views held by those of 'the 
Fathers' who lived before the completion of the Eomish apos- 
tasy, and were generally accounted Evangelical Amongst 
these, Augustine always held the cliief place. 

The present rule is, to interpret Scripture according to 
the creed of the Church to which the expositor may 
belong, — some inclining to rationalistic methods, others to 
mystical views, but Protestant Evangelical Christians 



ox BIBLICAL INTEBPRETATION, 6 

adhering in the main to the doctrines held, first by the 
Eeformers, and subsequently by the Puritans. 

A revision of the whole subject is now earnestly de- 
manded ; sometimes by men who have lost faith in Scrip- 
ture altogether, but more frequently by those who hope 
and believe that what is true and good in the expositions 
of the past will only be the more firmly established by 
renewed investigation ; that mere accretions, the errors and 
exaggerations which old prejudices and still pending strifes 
have gathered around the pure Word, will be purged 
away ; and that, under the influence of honesty and com- 
mon sense, of candour and of calmness, the Gospel in all 
its simplicity may once more be restored to us, and 'a 
world wearied of the heat and dust of controversy, of 
speculations about God and man, — weary too of the 
rapidity of its own motion, — may, to some extent at least, 
return home and find rest/ 

Before this can be done, however, two questions must be 
settled. 

The first is. Whether or no the Bible is to be interpreted 
like any other book ? 

The second is. Whether it is to be regarded as having 
more than one meaning ? 

On the answer given to these two questions almost 
everything depends. 

-We have here nothing to do with what Mr. Jowett or 
any one else may by some be supposed to wish or mean in 
saying, ' Interpret the Scriptures like any other book ; ' 
we simply inquire whether or no the rule, in its practical 
application, is a sound and good one ? 

Properly understood, we think it is. We say properly 
%tnclerstood, for it is not fair to say that such a rule ignores 
the peculiarities which distinguish the Bible from unin- 



6 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE, 

spired productions. It does no such thing. As well might 
it be pretended that its application to Bunyan's ' Pilgrim's 
Progress ' would prevent that book from being recognised 
as an allegorical record of Christian experience. 

^Miat is meant by the rule is plain enough, viz., that the 
Bible must be interpreted by the common laws of language, 
just as every other book must be interpreted, And surely 
this may be done without ceasing to bear in mind that 
Scriptu.re is a connected series of tracts, written without 
concert by men living fifteen hundred years apart ; that 
some things in it are typical, and others prophetical ; that 
there is parable in it as well as poetry; and that much 
relates to modes of life and conditions of society very 
different from our own. 

What is intended to be forbidden by the rule is, that 
method of interpreting Scripture which disregards the 
context ; which often makes mere sound ' an echo to the 
sense;' which is ever looking for meanings which the 
words do not convey; and which ends in transforming the 
Bible into a book without any definite or proper meaning 
of its own. 

The second question. Whether the Bible ought or ought 
not to be regarded as having more than one meaning ? — 
viz., that which it had to the Prophet or Evangelist who 
speaks, or to the people who first listened, can, in like 
manner, only be answered as it is understood. 

If by this statement is meant that the Old Testament 
Prophets always comprehended the depth of their own 
utterances, or that the people who, at a later period, heard 
the words of our Lord and His disciples, fully understood 
the teaching, nothing can be more delusive. For who does 
not know that Daniel says, ' I heard, but I understood 
not ; ' that the Evangelists frequently confess their igno- 



ON BIBLICAL INTEEPRETATION', 7 

ranee of sayings which were not made plain until after the 
Eesurrection ; that again and again it is recorded of the 
multitude that ' they understood Him not ' ? 

But is it fair to argue that because Prophets, Evangelists, 
or people confess ignorance, therefore Scripture has not one 
. plain and primitive meaning ? or to proclaim, with some- 
thing like exultation, that Parables have two meanings, and 
Prophecies many? We think not; for the meaning of 
Scripture is one thing, and its capacity of application, or its 
expression in figurative language, is quite another thing. It 
is, in truth, but trifling with serious matters to maintain, 
as has recently been done, that if the rule in question be 
affirmed, the declaration, ' Judah is a lion's whelp,' must of 
necessity be construed literally. 

The real question at issue is, — 'Are we to follow the 
Fathers into mystical and allegorical explanations of the 
W^ord of God, or are we to receive it like little children, in 
its plain, natural, and obvious meaning ? In other words, 
are we to deal with the Holy Scriptures of the New Testa- 
ment as the Jews dealt with the Old ? as the Hindoo has 
done with the Vedas ? as the Mohammedan does with the 
Koran?' 

Before we decide, let us consider what the decision in- 
volves. The mystical method is a two-edged sword, and 
can cut with equal sharpness in opposite directions. If it 
can turn the scarlet cord of Eahab into a type of the blood 
of Christ, it can also convert the voice of the Lord to 
Abram, into ' the fierce ritual of Syria,' bidding, ' with the 
awe of a Divine voice,' Abraham to slay his son. If, in 
expounding Ezekiel (xxxiv. 23, 24; xxxvii. 22 — 28), 
* David my servant ' may be changed into Christ the Son, 
it seems difficult to perceive why the aDgel who slew the 
firstborn may not also be transformed into 'the Bedouin 



S TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

host/ who were ' akin to Jethro, and, more remotely, to 
Israel/ 

One word in conclusion. Let no one say in his ' haste ' 
that he has nothing to do with principles of Biblical Inter- 
pretation; that the poor and the ignorant, to whom the 
Gospel was primarily sent, can never be benefited by such^ 
inquiries; that simple-minded Christians are happily un- 
affected by discussions which relate to difficulties they 
have never felt, and into the merits of which they are in 
a great measure incapacitated from entering. 

This is not true ; for, as has been well said, ' the healthy 
tone of religion among the poor and uneducated depends, 
to a very great extent, on the truthfulness of the doctrines 
they are taught by their superiors. Truth is to the ivorld 
what holiness of life is to the individvxil, — ^the source of 
justice, peace, and good.' The . Eeformation from Popery 
would never have been achieved but for controversies 
which must have been to many a pious heart of that day 
the source of unmixed pain and regret. 

The discussions that distress us now will be blest indeed 
if they lead, as we trust they will, to the conviction that 
' Biblical Criticism has hitherto hung to the past, and been 
truer to the traditions of the Church than to the words of 
Christ ; ' that he who wants to know, * not what Scripture 
may he made to mean, but what it really does mean,' may, 
by ' confining himself to the plain meaning of words, and 
the study of their context, obtain a deeper insight into the 
original spirit and intention of the New Testament than 
was ever possessed by the controversial writers of former 
ages ;' that the one great qualification for understanding 
Scripture is, that moral sympathy with God which over- 
comes prejudices as well as passions, and makes familiarity 
with His word essential to happiness. 



CHAPTEE 11. 

THE BIBLE A NEGLECTED BOOK. 

" Our books, well trimmed and in the gayest style, 
Like armies standing close in rank and file. 
Adorn our intellects as well as shelves, 
And teach us notions splendid as themselves : 
The Bible only stands neglected there, 
Though that of all most worthy of our care : 
This, like an infant, troublesome awake, 
Is left to sleep, for peace and quiet sake, ' ' 

COWPER. 

Many years ago we \vrote and published these words : — 
' No book in the world was ever so generally possessed, 
and so little comprehended, as an English Bible in the 
present day. Everything in society is unfavourable to its 
profitable perusal ; — the ceaseless activities of the good, 
and the restless insinuations of the bad, — textual preach- 
ing and tormenting criticism, — the multiplication of books, 
and the njingling of things sacred and profane, all tend to 
keep men from feeding in green pastures, or reposing by 
the side of still waters. And so it comes to pass, amid 
many other contradictory things, that while the Bible is 
more widely circulated than ever, it is much less read 
than formerly, and scarcely at all understood. 

' The result is — for that which affects the people affects 
the priest, — that while public worship was never so well 



10 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

attended as at present, the pulpit was never so powerless ; 
conduct in the connting-house never so independent of 
attention in the pew ; scepticism never so rampant ; and 
happy Christians never so rare/ 

We see no reason either to retract or to modify these 
sad convictions. 

Sad when it is recollected that the Book to which they 
relate is one to which we are indebted for more than we 
can well express ; for all our knowledge of the greatest 
fact in existence, — the birth of the world in which we 
live; for the only authentic account we possess of the 
origin and infancy of its inhabitants ; for all we know 
about the introduction of natural and moral evil into it ; 
and for all we can rely upon in relation to the hopes and 
prospects which await mankind beyond the grave. 

Sad when we reflect that this neglected Volume is the 
great charter of human freedom, and the sole controller of 
its excesses; that by saving us from discord, revolution, 
and crime, it has more than once proved that our institu- 
tions have no permanent basis, and our liberties no safe- 
guard, apart from the virtues it inculcates, and the spirit 
it fosters. 

Sad when we remember that no study is so exciting, 
expanding, and ennobling, as that of Holy Scripture ; that 
every page is marked by a majesty and purity which 
belong to no other composition; that no man. can long 
breathe its atmosphere without purifying his taste, enlarg- 
ing his mind, and improving his heart. 

Saddest of all when we think of it as the chief store- 
house of Divine truth; the only key to the mysteries of 
existence; the sure revelation of mercy to sinners; the 
basis of all practical virtue; the Statute-book of 
Heaven. 



CHAPTEE III. 

FOE WHAT PURPOSE WAS HOLY SCKIPTUHE GIVEN? 

** Lamp of our feet, whereby we trace 
Our path, when wont to stray ; 
, Stream from the fount of heavenly grace ! 

Brook by the traveller's way ! 
Word of the ever living God ! 
Will of His glorious Son ! 
Without thee, how could earth be trod ? 
Or Heaven itself be won ? " 

Bernard Barton. 

Every book has, or ought to have, a distinct object. What 
then, is the object of the Bible ? 

The answer is at hand. It professes to enlighten ns as 
to our true relation to our Creator ; as to our duties in this 
world ; and as to our destiny in the world to come. 

It has sometimes been said, and urged too, as a reason 
for neglecting Divine revelation, that the Bible deals with 
things heyond our experience and comprehension ; that it 
has little to do with the every-day work of a practical 
man s life ; that it is a book full of mysteries ; and that it 
treats of matters regarding which nothing certain can by 
any possibility be known. 

But this is not true. Nor would it be asserted, but for 
certain mistakes that men fall into, in consequence of con- 



12 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

founding the things which it reveals with the things which 
it merely hints at. 

Properly speaking, the Book reveals only that which 
really belongs to man — the present, which is his posses- 
sion, and the future, which is his inheritance. To many 
things it only incidentally refers : speaking, for instance, 
of other beings and other worlds, with much beside, simply 
to the extent, and no further, than seems to be needful in 
order to our true comprehension of the position we occupy 
in the universe. To fix our attention on these mere 
accessm^ies ; to create difficulties out of the77i ; and to 
neglect the immediate object of the revelation, is, to say 
the least of it, unpractical and absurd. 

We would not, for a single moment, underrate, even in 
the slightest degree, the importance of these incidental 
communications. On the contrary, we receive them with 
a thankful wonder. For we cannot forget that we have' no 
other account, besides that given in the Bible, of the most 
important events that have educated the race, and made 
men what they now are. 

But we say again, as these things are not the object of 
the Book, so difficulties relating to them, however formida- 
ble, can afford no good reason for neglecting or rejecting 
its immediate message to ourselves, as creatures of God, 
destined, in one form or other, to fulfil the ends of our exis- 
tence, whether in this world or in that which is to come. 

Further, the Bible always presupposes other and prior 
revelations. 

Nature is a revelation. ' The heavens declare the glory 
of God ; and the firmament sheweth His handywork. 
Day unto day utteretli speech, and night unto night 
showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, 
where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out 



PTTBPOSE OF EOLY SCRIPTURE. 13 

tliroiigh all the earth, and their words to the end of the 
world' (Psa. xix. 1 — 4). 

It was the neglect of Nature's voice which rendered 
the idolatry of the heathen inexcusable. ' For the 
invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are 
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, 
even His eternal power and Godhead; so that they are 
without excuse' (Eom. i. 20). 

The Providence of God is, again, a continual revelation. 
Paul, in addressing the Athenians, could appeal on this 
ground to heathen poets : ' As certain also of your own 
poets have said, For we are also His offspring.' 

Forgetfulness of this truth plunged the ancients into 
ever deepening error. ' When they knew God, they 
glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but 
became vain in thejr imaginations, and their foolish heart 
was darkened' (Eom. i. 21). 

The peculiarity of the later revelation, that of God in 
Christ, is that it was embodied in a Person, and that it 
exists for us as a written Book. 

To its presentation in this shape, many persons fancy 
they see insuperable objections. We can scarcely imagine, 
however, that it could have been given otherwise. A 
direct revelation to each individual personally and sepa- 
rately w^ould, if effechial, offer such violence to human 
nature, that freedom, both of choice and action, would be 
destroyed by it ; while if otherwise — making no deep and 
strong impression on the mind, — such a communication 
would soon come to be regarded as unreal, the result of 
natural causes, and the mere effect of a disturbed imagina- 
tion. Imposture, under such a state of things, would be 
sure to abound, and enthusiasm would supersede reason 
altogether. 



14 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

The mode actually adopted, that of first qualifying indi- 
viduals, by indisputable credentials, to instruct others as 
to the will of God, and then preserving their teaching in 
writing, is obviously the best, if not the only method in 
which the work could have been accomplished. It is 
plainly a more secure method for conveying truth than 
tradition could ever be ; it is freer from liability to suspi- 
cion of fraud or contrivance ; it throws that which is taught 
open at all times to the investigation of every man ; and it 
has this great advantage, — it is the only natural and human 
method. ' Everything that is of consequence man desires 
to have in vjriting. By its means laws are promulgated, 
arts and sciences spread, and titles and estates are secured. 
All that we know of History comes down to us in books ; 
tradition passes away like the morning cloud, but books 
may live as long as the sun and moon endure.' 

Add to these considerations the fact that God, although 
invisible, is ever bearing witness to the truth of this 
written Eevelation by a voice within ; that without other 
evidence than that which is internal, its revelations are at 
once recognised as realities by ' the lowly heart and pure ;' 
that it is the only key that fits the wards of human con- 
sciousness ; that, to the poor and uninstructed, it comes 
home like a familiar thing, — and we are forced to confess 
that, stereotyped as it is in paragraphs and in letters, it 
yet bears about with it all the characteristics of perpetual 
life, and is capable of being made the common property of 
all the children of men. 

We are not quite sure that the Bible was intended to be 
so direct an instrument in the conversion of the world as is 
usually supposed. That work seems rather to be the 
peculiar responsibility of Christians ; to be accomplished 
by the living voice, and the power of a holy example. 



PURPOSE OF HOLY SCEIPTUEE. 15 

The Bible, regarded as a book, is not so much intended for 
the unbeliever as for the believer. Its chief aim and end 
is to elevate the Christian ; to bring him closer to Christ ; 
to teach, and to enable him, by faith in the Eedeemer, to 
live a higher life than others, — a life of self-denial, of 
unworldliness, and of disinterested love. This seems to be 
the view taken of Scripture by St. Paul, when he speaks of 
it to Timothy, as ' profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for 
correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of 
God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good 
works' (2 Tim. iii. 16, 17). 

Happy indeed shall we be if permitted to enjoy however 
small a measure of success, in calling attention to its 
claims ; in removing obstacles to its comprehension ; or in 
restoring it to that supremacy which is its rightful place, 
and apart from which it can never accomplish the great 
purposes for which it has been bestowed. 

In contributing what little we can towards this result, 
may the Father of Lights be pleased to vouchsafe unto us 
His holy guidance and benediction. 



Holy and Eternal Spirit, who alone canst " enrich with 
all utterance and knowledge,'' and ''who sendest out Thy 
Seraphim with the hallowed fire of the Altar to touch and 
purify the lips of whom Thou pleasesV,' kindle throughout 
our land Diviner appetites, and teach us to love that Booh 
which, mighty through Thee, can alone control the turbulence 
of the will, calm the restlessness of the intellect, or satisfy the 
hunger of the heart. 



CHAPTEE IV. 

WAS THE BIBLE INTENDED TO BE UNDEKSTOOD BY THE 
UNLEAENED ? 

" The Sacred Boot, 
In dusty sequestration held too long, 
Now takes the accents of our native tongue ; 
And he who guides the plough or wields the crook, 
With understanding spirit now may look 
Upon her records, listen to her song, 
And sift her law, much wond'ring that the wrong 
Which faith has suffered heaven could calmly hrook." 

Wordsworth. 

If the great principle of our Protestantism be of any prac- 
tical value, the Bible must be a popular book, written for 
and addressed to, the masses of mankind. 

Further, if, as we profess, it is the gift of One who never 
deludes us by unrealities, it is impossible that it should 
need for its comprehension — so far, at least, as all practical 
purposes are concerned — anything beyond moral sympathy, 
and that common sense which is pre-eminently the inherit- 
ance of the people. 

The history of the Book justifies this supposition. The 
words of Moses were chiefly addressed to semi-barbarous 
tribes ; the utterances of the prophets were proclaimed to 
their countrymen without distinction of class ; the songs of 
David were embodied in public worship ; the words of 



THE BIBLE INTENDED TO BE UNDERSTOOD. 17 

Christ were spoken to the fishermen and artisans of Judea ; 
and the Epistles were written to persons who were, pro- 
bably, in the main, uneducated. 

It will, we know, be said in reply, that the utterances of 
the prophets, the teaching of the Lord, and the letters of 
His apostles, were all given forth in the language of the 
people to whom they were addressed ; that the figures, 
allusions, and illustrations, which are so numerous in 
Scripture, were all taken from their daily life ; and that it 
by no means follows that what was familiar to them must 
of course be intelligible to persons in totally different cir- 
cumstances. 

We grant this fully. Neither common sense nor moral 
sympathy with God will enable a man either to translate 
for himself, or to correct the errors of translators. But 
we are not speaking of the Bible as it was originally 
written, either in Hebrew or in Greek, but as presented to 
the English people in the Authorized Version. We are 
not supposing that version to be faultless, — far from it ; 
but we are certainly taking for granted (and few will 
dispute the fact) that it is, in the onain, singularly faithful 
and fau\ And it is in relation to this volume, regarded as, 
on the whole, a true presentation of the contents of the 
Bible, that we affirm Scripture to be intelligible to ordinary 
understandings, and suited to ordinary wants. 

We maintain that the same God who has adapted the 
Bible to the mind of man has adapted the mind of man 
to the Bible. The apostolic authors constantly assume 
this. They assume ' the existence in all men of a spiritual 
discernment, entering the mind v:hen unclovded hy appetite 
or passion, to recognise and distinguish the Divine voice, 
whether uttered from within by the intimations of con- 
science, or speaking from without in the language of 

c 



18 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

inspired oracles. They presuppose, that yigoiir of reason- 
ing may consist with feebleness of understanding ; and that 
the power of discerning between religious truth and error 
does not chiefly depend on the culture, or on the exercise 
of the mere argumentative faculty. The especial patrimony 
of the poor, the Gospel has been the stay of countless 
millions who never framed a syllogism.' 

To slaves and peasants, and to the uninstructed gene- 
rally, explain it as we may, the Book carries its own 
evidence with it, and truth, like the sun, is by them seen 
in its own light. There is, without doubt, a sense of cer- 
tainty, in relation to Scripture, which belongs to the simple- 
minded, and to such alone ; a conviction which is neither 
the offspring of reason nor the result of culture, but, like 
life itself, a direct inspiration of the Almighty. Such 
persons, independently of all study or learning, and apart 
from all reasoning, are, in the state of the heart alone, amply 
furnished with defences against falsehood, and are able to 
discern betwixt truth and error. 

If it were not so, he would be the firmest believer who 
enjoyed the greatest advantages for obtaining and weighing 
proofs ; truth would be the property of the few ; and the 
multitude, if they believed at all, could only do so on the 
authority of those who were favoured with opportunities 
for research. But the very reverse of all this is the fact. 
The doubter is commonly the man of high attainment, of 
cultivated understanding, of varied learning. The peaceful 
and happy believer is he who has the witness in himself, 
and who cuts through the web of aU sophistry with the 
simple exclamation, ' I hnow it and/ee/ it to be true.' 

Strange, then, indeed is it that so many teach and 
believa that the acceptance of the Bible alone, however 
sincere and heartfelt, can in itself inspire no Christian 



THE BIBLE INTENDED TO BE UNDERSTOOD. 19 

confidence, since such a profession may mean anything or 
nothing ; that the Book is one from which doctrines of all 
kinds, even the most contradictory, may be at least 
plausibly supported ; and that, apart from a more definite 
expression of the truth it involves than is given in the 
Sacred Page, it can convey no certain sound ; that it is, in 
short, only to be regarded as truly received when it is 
understood in a given sense, and expounded in harmony 
with the confessions of the Church, whatever that term may 
be supposed to mean. 

Such we believe to be, at the present day, the accredited 
opinion of the Christian world; and we are disposed to 
regard its frequent assertion as the expression of a con- 
viction which is partly honest, and partly dishonest : honesty 
however mistaken, when it proceeds from self-distrust, — 
from undue veneration for accomplished commentators, — 
from the overruling power of hereditary teaching, — or 
from the perplexity which is naturally engendered by 
diversities of judgment and multiplied sects ; dishonest, 
when it is adopted from a desire to prop up any existing 
ecclesiastical organization,- — when it springs from a dispo- 
sition to exalt human creeds, catechisn^s, and formularies, 
over Divine teachings, — or when, as is often the case, it is 
made an excuse either for the neglect or disbelief of 
Scripture altogether. 

But whether honest or dishonest, nothing is more 
certain than that such a, persuasion is in itself singularly 
mischievous ; since it furnishes, on the one hand, the most 
plausible of all arguments in support of modern assertions 
that a revelation from God, by or through a book, is impos- 
sible ; and since it sustains, on the other, the contemptible 
assumptions of those who pretend that the Bible was 
never intended to be read without an authorized interpreter, 



20 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

and that the Church, or the Pope, as the case may be, 
should be regarded as the representative of Christ on earth 
for this purpose. 

Further, this notion of the indcfiniteness of Scripture, 
when regarded apart from a given interpretation, is as 
senseless as it is mischievous ; for no delusion can be 
greater than to suppose that we do really give a more 
explicit character to Gospel truth, and that we bind men 
more firmly to it, when, having exchanged the Divine for 
a human expression, and transferred, as we fondly imagine, 
the spirit of Scripture into the substance of theological 
propositions, we demand adherence, in some form or other, 
to ' the idol ' we have set up. It never seems to occur to 
us that the absence of any such compendium in Scripture 
clearly indicates its undesirableness ; that in that which is 
(rmittedy as much as in that which is included, we ought to 
see the Divine wisdom ; that in this, as in so many other 
things, ' the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the 
weakness of God stronger than men.' 

The truth is, the moment we attempt to condense or 
translate words that are ' spirit and life,' into forms of 
thought which are neither the one nor the other, we more 
or less change their meaning, and insensibly become 
expositors of the Word. And since we do this, only that 
we may more effectually * judge' as to the reality of one 
another's faith, God frowns on our devices by confounding 
our language ; so that it comes to pass that the very words 
and phrases in which we express our convictions, and by 
which we hope to promote oneness, are changed into ' traps 
and snares,' amid which we ' fall, and are broken/ Nothing 
more is needed to explain the endless divisions of Chris- 
tendom than the general abandonment of the ' unity of 
the Spirit/ gathered from the Word itself, for the false 



TEE BIBLE INTEXDED TO BE UNDERSTOOD, 21 

lights of an imaginary and impracticable uniformity, sought 
in the more definite expression of truth by theological 
propositions. 

Away, then, with the God-dishonouring notion that 
Divine Eevelation is either unintelligible or indefinite. 
' There is no reason whatever, in the nature of things, why 
Holy Scripture should not be as well and as uniformly 
understood by those who read it, as any other book of 
similar date, now chiefly known through translations/ 

Granting, as we cheerfully do, that some peculiarities 
attach to the Old Testament which make its actual inter- 
pretation difficult, and which have * encouraged critics to 
take such liberties with Hebrew as they could not venture 
upon with languages of which we have more ample 
remains,' — the New Testament Scriptures are absolutely free 
from any difficulty which is not common to all ancient books. 
' Other writings are preserved to us in dead languages, — 
Greek, Latin, Oriental, — some of them in fragments, and 
all of them originally in manuscript. Difficulties occur in 
them similar to those which attach to Scripture ; these are 
found equally in sacred and in profane literature. But the 
meaning of classical authors is known with comparative 
certainty ; and the interpretation of them seems to rest on 
a scientific basis. It is not, therefore, to philological or 
historical difficulties that the greater part of the uncer- 
tainty in the interpretation of Scripture is to be attributed. 
No ignorance of Hebrew or Greek is sufficient to account 
for it.' 

What the hindrances to its profitable comprehension 
really are, will become more evident as we proceed with 
our allotted task. 



W^/ 



^nr 




CHAPTEE V. 

WITH WHAT AUTHORITY DOES THE BOOK SPEAK? 

" It is the Book of God. What if I should 
Say God of books ? 
Let him that looks 
Angry at that expression, as too hold, 
His thoughts in silence smother, 
, Till he find such another.'* 

Geokge Herbert. 

We regard the Bible as possessing Divine authority. 

The proof of this, however, opens up a field of inquiry 
into which we cannot here enter. It is an investigation 
for which the multitude are^ in many respects, unprepared : 
which few can tread with an independent step ; and 
which in any case demands an expenditure of time and 
energy far beyond the available resources of ordinary men. 

But it does not thence follow that everything must be 
taken on trust ; for the results of the labours of many 
generations in this department are now open to every eye, 
and may be mastered without difficulty. 

Short of this degree of research, the simplest course is 
— in the absence of that internal evidence which is a later 
result of experience — to allow the mind to fasten on some 
one great tangible proof of Divine superintendence, such 
as the fact that, in the Bible, ' a series of more than thirty 
writers, speaking in succession along a vast line of time 
(sixteen hundred years), and absolutely without means of 



WIIA T A UTironiTT HAS THE BOOK ? 23 

concert, all combine unconsciously to one end ; lock, like 
parts of a great machine, into one system ; conspire to the 
unity of a very elaborate scheme, without being at all 
aware of what w^as to come after/ This one argument, 
when well worked out in the mind, becomes unanswerable ; 
it places the Bible in a position altogether distinct from 
that of any pretended revelation; and, apart from all 
theories about the mode, justifies the assumption that its 
Divine Inspiration, and consequently its Divine Autho- 
rity, is, in some sense or other, and in a very high sense 
too, a great fact. 

Or, the question may be looked at in this way : — 
Christ and His apostles everywhere take for granted 
the veracity of the Old Testament Scriptures. They con- 
stantly appeal to these writings as authoritative and Divine. 
If, therefore, the New Testament be genuine ; if such 
persons as Christ and His Apostles ever existed ; and if 
the account given of them by the Evangelists be trust- 
worthy, they must, — on the supposition that the Old Testa- 
ment is unworthy of belief, — have been either deceivers or 
deceived. 

In relation to the first supposition, — the possible non- 
existence of Christ, or the untrustworthiness of the Gospels 
— it is only necessary to observe that there is far stronger 
proof of the existence of Jesus Christ, than there is that 
such persons as Alexander or Julius Caesar ever lived; 
that the Gospels are received as genuine for the same and 
much stronger reasons than those on which we receive the 
writings of Tacitus, or any other heathen author ; and 
that the older infidel writers, such as Hobbes, Chubb, and 
Bolingbroke, readily grant this much at least. Lord 
Bolingbroke says : ' It is out of dispute that we have in 
our hands the Gospels of Matthew and John, w^ho gave 



24 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

themselves out for eye and ear witnesses of all that Christ 
did and taught/ * . 

In relation to the second, — that of Christ and His 
Apostles being either deceivers or deceived, — it is enough 
to say that if they were deceived, they were so in common 
with the entire Jewish Nation, w^hich to this day main- 
tains with scrupulous anxiety the Divine authority of its 
ancient records. 

As to their being deceivers, that is absolutely incredible, 
— for their entire teaching is based on principles utterly 
inconsistent with such a supposition. Two of these 
' pillars ' of the Faith only need be named. The first, 
fatal to all imtridhfulness of whatever kind, is, the utter 
worthlessness of the outward, when it does not truly 
represent the inward; the second, /ai^<xZ to mere ritualism 
and superstitious formality, is, that men may have the 
noblest of all spiritual ancestry; may belong to the 
purest and best of churches ; may form part of a com- 
munity chosen by God Himself; and yet, if they are 
personally and practically insincere and unholy, it will 
avail them nothing. We say it is impossible even to 
imagine impostors inventing, or deluded fanatics promul- 
gating, principles like these. 

The Miracles of the New Testament must stand or fall 
with the character of Christ and His Apostles. Those of 
the Old, — allowing for possible interpolation, — with the 
veracity of. the men who narrate them. The sacred 
writers are pledged to these marvels so deeply, that the 
overthrow of the miraculous element in either Testament 
involves of necessity the overthrow of the moral also. 

Nor does the modern sceptical theory, — that these 

* Bolingbroke's "Works, vol. v. p. 91, 4tli Edition; quoted by Mr. Home. 
Crit. Int. 



JFITA T A UTROmTY HAS THE BOOK ? 25 

things, though false, are represented by the writers, in all 
purity of intention, as they conceived of them ; that the 
words of the Bible may be (notwithstanding their falsity) 
regarded as true words, inasmuch as they express 'the 
conceptions of the times, and the measure of knowledge or 
of faith, to which every one of the writers, in his degree, 
had attained,' — at all mend the matter. For if this theory 
be true, the authoritative character of the Book is quite as 
effectually destroyed. If the miracles it records did not 
take place, the narrators, whether deluded or deluding, are 
altogether unworthy of respect. 

No folly can be greater than to say that the words of 
Christ and His apostles when faithfully recorded were true 
loords, if they were not really so ; nay, if they were not 
inspired words in a very different sense from ordinary 
human utterances ; for the speakers always assume this to 
be the case, and perpetually ground thereupon claims 
which, if unfounded, are either wicked or absurd. We 
may call such words fanatical, if we will ; weak or blas- 
phemous, if we must ; but true ivords they can never be. 

Nothing can be more unreasonable than to regard the 
Bible as being at once true, and yet full of falsehood ; 
pure, and yet defiled by credulity and prejudice. As 
if a thing really of the heaven and heavenly, could be 
tainted by the breath of delusion and deceit. Eject the 
miraculous from the Bible and the Book unquestionably 
falls into contempt. If it be not authoritative and Divine, 
it is clearly not worth the trouble of perusing, — excepts 
indeed, as a literary miracle, a monster of good and evil, 
which, having first slain the falsehoods of Paganism, now 
waits, in turn, to be devoured by higher truth, to which it 
has itself given birth and development. 

Finally, it may not be amiss to think where the rejection 



26 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

of the Bible lands us. With the Book, the God revealed 
in the Book departs also. What then remains for us ? 
Clearly, neither more nor less than self -loor ship. The 
grosser forms of Paganism, — the cruel and revengeful 
demons of uncivilized idolaters, — would, in such a case, of 
course find no place amongst us. A more refined Poly- 
theism might ; but this is only the embodiment, in beau- 
tiful forms of idealized human power or passion, heroism 
or virtue. Pantheism, whenever it becomes objective, can 
take no other shape. For since man is greater than either 
sun or stars, storm or river, bird or beast, the highest mani- 
festation of God, on this showing, must be MAN. 

The moral results of such a conclusion are obvious. 
Every man, at his best, is, or aims to be, what he conceives 
his God to be. He may sink far below that conception, 
but he can never rise above it. Without a Divinity better 
than himself man is incapable of moral advancement. 

Such are the necessary results of the rejection of Scrip- 
ture, when fully worked out. To be a sceptic in the midst 
of Christian influences, and with the results of a Christian 
education continually acting on the character and conduct 
of a man, is one thing. To be a sceptic in the midst 
of universal scepticism, with all traces of Christianity 
withdrawn, and nothing left but the results of mibelief is 
quite another thing. The first, notwithstanding its blind 
ingratitude, may consist with much that is amiable and 
honourable; the last must terminate in moral debase- 
ment, and in unmitigated selfishness. 

We now only observe that abundant proof can be 
obtained, — That the various books which form the Bible 
embody all that God has been pleased to reveal of Himself 
to man ; and further, that they have been transmitted to 
us without any important omissions or interpolations. 



TTHA T A UTEORITY HAS TEE BOOK?. 27 

We say ' important/ because it cannot be disputed that, 
from whatever cause, errors do exist in the Bible. Some- 
times figures are erroneous ; and sometimes loords. Some- 
times a translation is not quite accurate, and what are 
called ' readings ' of the text frequently vary. Interpola- 
tions are rare, but they may be found nevertheless. 

The great question, however, is — What doctrine or im- 
portant truth do these errors affect ? Of what importance 
are they ? Safely may it be replied, of none at all. As 
the Bishop of London has well remarked, ' When laborious 
ingenuity has exerted itself to collect a whole store of such 
difficulties, suppose them to he real, what on earth does it 
signify? They may quietly float away without our being 
able to solve them, if we bear in mind the acknowledged 
fact that there is a human element in the Bible.' 

They are, however, certainly fatal to those who assert 
that not only is the word of God in the Bible, but the Bible 
is itself, in the strictest and fullest sense, in every parti- 
cular of its contents, and in every expression which it uses, 
the infallible word of the one living and true God. This 
cannot be proved, and therefore ought not to be asserted. 
The treasure is in earthen vessels in more senses than one, 
and this simply because it is, on the whole, lest that it 
should be so. 

' The spiritual element in Scripture — that is, everything 
in it which concerns our relation to God and to eternity, — 
though combined with other elements, such as historical 
details, genealogies, and documents taken from the public 
registers, is plainly distingnishahle from them, and wholly 
independent of them; and since the evidence of Chris- 
tianity attaches infallibility only to the spiritual element, 
the discovery of errors in the Bible does not touch Chris- 
tianity at all.' 



i?iT5?^^feN>-- 



CHAPTEE VI. 

^VHAT IS MEANT BY INSPIKATION ? 

" Most wondrous Book ! bright candle of tlie Lord ! 
Star of eternity ! The only star 
By which the bark of man can navigate 
The sea of life, and gain the coast of bliss. 
The only star which ever rose on Time, 
And on its dark and troubled billows, still, 
As generation, drifting swiftly by, 
Succeedeth generation, throws a ray 
Of heaven's own light up to the hills of God." 

POLLOK. 

Inspiration is the immediate communication of knowledge 
to the human mind, for a special end^ by the Spirit of the 
Most High. 

In this sense it was the peculiar privilege of those w^ho 
were chosen of God to impart His will to mankind. It 
properly implies both reception and utterance ; the capacity 
to receive, and the power to communicate Divine truth 
authoritatively and infallibly. It involves also a commis- 
sion, and therefore an obligation, sometimes to speak, some- 
times to \^T:ite, sometimes, under providential guidance, to 
record faithfully (although not always without liability to 
error) a fact, a conversation, or a discourse; sometimes, 
under like conditions, to narrate a history ; sometimes to 
compile and edit existing documents ; sometimes to write 
letters, and sometimes to predict future events. 



JFHA T IS MEANT B Y INSPIMA TION ? 29 

In the execution of such tasks, infallibility will doubt- 
less belong to all that lias been directly revealed from 
above ; to all prediction founded thereupon, and to all that 
is communicated by special command; but not by any 
means of necessity to everything that has thus providen- 
tially been preserved from oblivion. 

AVhoever receives knowledge from above, in this direct 
way, is an Inspired Man. 

It is because the Bible was written imder these peculiar 
conditions that it is termed, with the strictest propriety, 
AN Inspired Book. 

This original inspiration, however, is, as we have seen, 
not inconsistent with the presence of a human, and there- 
fore fallible, element in the construction of Holy Writ ; it 
does not exclude the possibility of the record being cor- 
rupted, either by copyists or in translation; it does not 
prevent occasional discrepancies, which, whether real or 
only apparent, man is unable to remove. But, we repeat, 
none of these things ought to shake in the slightest degree 
the most trustful confidence in the Book itself. 

To suppose, as some seem to do, that God suggested 
every word of Scripture, dictated every expression, and so 
superintended its translation into the English tongue, that 
every text found in the Authorized Version is as much 
tlie word of God as if it had been directly uttered from 
heaven, is, to say the least of it, ignorant and absurd. A 
Bible, read under this impression, is inevitably misread, for 
Truth is, by this process, changed into a Superstition. 
Enough is it for us to know, that ivhenever, and so far as 
Divine assistance was needed in the preparation of Scrip- 
ture, it was afforded. 

In the preparation of the Kew Testament we cannot 
doubt that the Holy Spirit Irought all tilings to the remem' 



30 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

hrance of the writers which the Divine Master had said or 
done ; guided them into all truths and taught them all things 
needful for the accomplishment of the work they had to 
do as the transmitters of the Divine will to future genera- 
tions. 

' The moment we inspect these writings, we perceive in 
them the unmistakable traces of the Divine hand. We 
perceive it emphatically in a tone and manner which is 
incapable of imitation; in a singular absence of human 
emotion and mere human feeling ; in a dignity and 
authority of address found nowhere else ; in entire freedom 
from puerile details or legendary fables ; in a most won- 
derful abstinence in the selection of materials ; in the purest 
taste, and in the most noble simplicity of language.' Every- 
where these writings carry with them their own impress of 
authority. 

In reading the New Testament it is as needful to 
remember that the first years of the Gospel dispensation 
w^ere miraculous, as it is in reading the Old Testament to 
recollect that Judea was a theocracy. 

In the neglect of this, many things recorded in the New 
Testament cannot be understood, — e. g., passages which 
speak of special gifts of the Spirit for special work ; whether 
of language, for missionary labour, — of discernment, for the 
discovery of the true and the detection of the false, — or the 
power of inflicting punishment, for the purification and 
discipline of the Church, as exemplified in ' the rod ' of the 
apostle, and his deliverance of some ^to Satan, for the 
destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit might be saved in 
the day of the Lord Jesus.' These things are not to be 
explained away. They come before us as facts of Divine 
revelation, intended to illustrate the condition of the 
Church at the time to which they refer. 



WRA T IS MEANT B Y INSPIRA TION ? 31 

So also must it be distinctly kept in mind that Scrip- 
ture, from its very nature, is progressive ; that some things 
are now unintelligible to us, or, if not unintelligible, to 
some extent unprofitable, only because they belong to the 
distant past, and had reference mainly, if not exclusively, 
to the time when they were penned. Under this head may 
clearly be ranged the list of names in the First Book of 
Chronicles, and all the genealogies, whether in the Old 
Testament or in the New. Why need we shrink from say- 
ing that the time for verifying them is gone hy, and that 
they never could have been of much practical value to any 
but to those who had the oppartunity of comparing them 
with the public registers ? 

In like manner, the darkness which gathers around 
many of the prophecies is attributable solely to the fact 
that the time is not yet come for their full comprehension. 
This is as true of the Old Testament as it is of the New. 
Both contain predictions which, in all human probability, 
will only find their complete fulfilment under another 
economy, and after the resurrection. 

Neither any nor all the difficulties so frequently paraded 
by the sceptic — although sometimes incapable, with our 
present lights, of satisfactory adjustment — are really of 
much moment ; many of them are difficulties which press 
equally on natural religion and on the facts of life; and 
some of them at least supply satisfactory proof of the 
honesty of the writers, by establishing the absence of collu- 
sion. Those that are unremoveable teach at least this les- 
son, that God's ways are not as our ways, nor His thoughts 
as our thoughts, — that faith is but the highest reason, and 
that, as Pascal has beautifully observed, ' the last step of 
reason is to know that there is an infinitude of things 
which surpass it.' 



CHAPTEE VIL 

ON THE BLINDNESS OF THE NATURAL MAN. 

** Bread of our souls ! whereon we feed ; 
True manna from on high. ! 
Our guide and chart ! wherein we read 

Of realms heyond the sky ; 
Pole-star on Life's tempestuous deep ! 

Beacon ! when doubts surround ;• 
Compass ! by which our course we keep ; 
Our deep-sea lead, to sound ! " 

Bernard Barton. 

It is often said, and not always in a devout temper, that 
the Bible differs from all other books, not only by the fact 
of its inspiration, but — which is of still greater moment — 
by the circumstance that it can only be read with advan- 
tage by persons who have received special grace from 
heaven to enable them to understand it. To a man who 
has not this new and Divine faculty, whatever it may be, 
we are told all labour in relation to Scripture is vain, or, as 
it is usually expressed, that to such the book is sealed; 
since 'the natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of God : for they are foolishness unto him : neither 
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned ' 
(1 Cor. ii. 14). 
This statement, as it is generally put, involves two 



BLINDNESS OF TEE NATURAL MAN. 33 

things — a truth and an eiTor. We shall endeavour to 
separate them. 

The truth which underlies the statement, and which, be 
it observed, is by no means peculiar to the Bible, is this, — 
that moral sympathy is more or less essential to the full 
and accurate comprehension of any virtue or duty. A 
proud man cannot, properly speaking, understand the true 
character of humility, nor a churl the charm of liberality. 
They can ??usunderstand these virtues easily enough, count- 
ing the one contemptible and the other folly; but they 
cannot, in any enlarged sense of the word, comprehend 
either till they are in a state of mind to practise them. To 
say therefore, as so many do, in broad and general terms 
that an unrenewed man cannot understand the Bible he- 
cause he is unrenewed, is not only foolish, it is false ; for 
the statement, put in any form, is only partially true, and 
it is almost always grievously misunderstood. It is com- 
monly supposed to imply a sort of tacit admission that 
such an one is very much to be pitied for his condition, 
and that perhaps he may not be altogether so responsible 
for it as is generally imagined. 

The text we have quoted (1 Cor. ii. 14), which is the one 
always advanced in support of this supposed inability, has 
only to be regarded in connection with the train of reason- 
ing of which it forms a part in order to see that the apostle 
has no such meaning as that attributed to him. He is not 
speaking of plain practical duties, such as repentance, or 
faith, or love to G-od, as if such obligations were incom- 
prehensible to the natural man, but of deep Christian 
mysteries, — of ' wisdom ' for ^ the perfect ; ' ' the wisdom of 
God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God 
ordained before the world unto our glory," which ' eye hath 
not seen, nor ear heard/ but which God hath ' revealed ' to 

D 



34 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

the apostles 'by His Spirit ; ' and it is these things which he 
says, and truly enough, 'the natural man receiveth not/ 

But does it follow because a special spiritual con- 
dition is essential to the understanding of special spiritual 
mysteries, that therefore something more than belongs to 
man generally — something above and beyond what is given 
to the world — is essential to the understanding of God's 
message to all mankind? Cektainly not; and it is a 
delusion to imagine it. 

The Bible, although bearing a special message to the 
believer, is not given to man as renewed, but as a sinner. 
It is indeed peculiarly addressed to ' the man of God,^ that 
he may be thoroughly furnished thereby to every good 
work; but it has also a message to the thoughtless and 
iingodly. It is intended to show such an one what he 
needs, and to lead him, by prayer and supplication, to ask 
that he may obtain. 

The mischief that is done by careless and unscriptural 
statements regarding Divine influence is incalculable, and 
never greater than when such views are made, as they con- 
stantly are, a ground of apology for sinful ignorance ; as if 
it were the work of the Holy Spirit either to give a new 
faculty to the mind, or to furnish it with new light, without 
which its perpetual darkness is certain and irremediable. 
The 'fruit of the Spirit,' says St. Paul, 'is love, joy, peace 
longsuffering,' and such like ; but w^here are we told that^ 
it is mental power, clearness of understanding, ability to 
comprehend, or, sad to say, as Dr. Chalmers has incau- 
tiously put it, — what the telescope is to the naked eye, or 
Avhat reason is to an idiot ? * 

That love, in its result, is as enlightening as it is purifying, 
no one will dispute ; for sympathy is the great quickener 

* * Tron Sermons.' Sermon i., pp. 28 and 3a. 



BLINDNESS OF TEE NATURAL MAN. 35 

of the perceptions, and purity the chief refiner of the 
intellect ; but it is a gross perversion of these sacred truths 
to reverse their lesson, by making a sovereign gift of God 
essential to a knowledge of any duty, for the non-exercise 
of which man is justly held to be responsible. 

Do we then, it will be said, deny the work of the Spirit ? 
Assuredly we do not. We but maintain that Divine light, 
so far as it is needful to the comprehension of duty, and,, 
therefore, to the completion of responsibility, is already given 
to every man according to his position — i, e., according to 
what will finally be required of him. What other intelli- 
gible meaning can be attached to our Lord's own words, — 
' When He (the Comforter) is come, He will reprove (or 
convict) the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment'? 
(John xvi. 7, 8). As well might we deny that ' the Lord 
has risen,' as affirm that the Spirit, in this sense, has not 
been given. Nor can we imagine in what part of Scripture 
a justification is to be found for the constantly recurring 
assertion that the Holy Spirit is given to, or withheld 
from the world, according to the faith or faithlessness, the 
earnestness or otherwise, of the intercessions of the Church. 

So long as errors of this magnitude are, either directly or 
by implication, generally taught, it is obviously impossible 
that the Bible can be read as intelligently as any other 
book, or the most important part of every man's moral pro- 
bation — the duty of seeking after truth as the supreme 
good, in the exercise of humility, candour, and patience- 
be fully acknowledged. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 

ON" SPECIAL LIGHT FROM HEAYEN. 

'* Thy word, Lord, like gentle dews, 
Falls soft on hearts that pine ; 
Lord, to Thy garden ne'er refuse 
This heavenly halm of Thine ; 
Watered fi'om Thee, 
Let every tree 
Bud forth and hlossom to Thy praise. 
And bear much fruit in after days." 

From the German. 

Tee notion of a fecial light being vouchsafed to the 
prayerful reader of Scripture is as destructive of the Divine 
record itself as it is of man s responsibility in rejecting it ; 
for if God, by His Holy Spirit, communicates directly with 
the minds of men now, as an Interpreter, such communica- 
tions will assuredly control any words given to mortals 
eighteen hundred years ago. 

So men, who hold to this sort of Divine aid, are already 
beginning to reason. 'Are we,' it is now said — not by 
sceptics only, but by evangelical teachers, — ' to bring down 
the word inspiration to a use merely narrow and technical, 
asserting it only of prophecy and other Scripture writings, 
and carefully excluding from it all participation by our- 
selves, in whatever sense it might be taken ? ' Are we to 
' become a class unprivileged, differing from the anointed 



SPECIAL LIGHT FROM EEAVEK, 37 

men of Scripture and Scripture times — shut down to a 
kind of* second-hand life, feeding on their words V Is it 
to be believed that 'they were inspired, while we in no 
sense can be ? If so, there is no relief for us but in a 
recoil against inspiration itself, even that of the Holy- 
Scriptures; for who will credit that men were inspired 
long ages ago, when now any such thing is incredible ? ' * 

The recoil thus spoken of as inevitable, finds its expres- 
sion in those later forms of criticism which are now issuing 
from our great seats of learning, according to which the 
inspiration of the first century is to bow before that of the 
nineteenth ; the miraculous is to be expurgated ; and if, as 
a necessary consequence, the Bible loses its authority, the 
result may be regretted, but it must be considered as 
inseparable from progress. 

The root of these terrible errors, whether men will hear 
it or not, is the notion that the Holy Spirit enlightens the 
mind by other means than by the purification of the 
nature. This is evident from the ground taken by one of 
the leading writers in the 'Essays and Eeviews,'"(- who 
boldly asserts, not only that ' inspiration is a permanent 
power in the Church," but that the Bible always supposes 
in its readers 'an illumination kindred to its oion! In 
explaining what he means, he quotes, as an authority, St. 
Basil, who speaks of the Holy Spirit 'as an intellectual 
light, aftbrding illumination to every rational faculty in 
the investigation of truth ; the light which clears mental 

* Dr. Horace Bushnell. (* Sermons on the New Life,' p. 46, American 
edition.) It is right to say that Dr. Bushnell adds, * Not that we are to 
assert or claim the same inspiration with the writers of Scripture. God has 
a particular kind of inspiration for every man, just according to what he is, 
and the uses He will make of him.' 

t Dr. Rowland Williams, in * An Earnestly Respectful Letter to the Lord 
Bishop of St. David's,' 1860. 



38 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

2oerplexities, and the secret energy tlirough which every 
organ discharges its functions aright/ In the faith of this 
doctrine of the indwelling Spirit in the Church, it is 
asserted the creeds were developed, doctrine was drawn 
from doctrine, liturgies were collected, and Gentile customs 
were adopted * 

But what follows ? Why, of course, this : that as ' the 
Comforter at present acts within the bounds of our capa- 
cities, leaving us liable to error, and the shortcomings of 
our generation,' so ' it is in harmony with the Divine deal- 
ings to suppose that while apostles and prophets enjoyed 
a larger measure of illumination, they, too, were left liable 
to shortcomings in knowledge, or humanity in reasoning* 
The argument culminates in the question, ' What, then, is 
the authority of mere Scripttjkalness apart from what 
good men approve, and from what fair historians think 
credible V The answer implied is, Nothing at all. 

Such are the consequences involved in a doctrine which 
is to this day cherished with the utmost tenderness by, we 
believe, all evangelical churches. The difference, on this 
pomt, between the Society of Friends and other Christians, 
is simply one of degree. The doctrine itself is held in 
common. 

We lay it down then as a fixed principle, that he who 
would understand the Bible must believe, first, that God, 

* This is not the doctrine of Scripture. The * iUumination * there supposed 
is a spiritual, not an intellectual gift. It is light proceeding from. love. It 
is moral sympathy leading to the recognition of the Divine word. * My 
sheep,' says Christ, ^Jcnow My voice.' It is what John calls *an unction 
from the Holy One,' hy which Christians 'know all things.' It is the 
' verifying faculty ' which is ^identified with the * anointing ' believers re- 
ceive from Him who abideth in them. It is, in short, reason enlightened 
and sanctified by the Holy Spirit, and thus made capable of appreciating 
Divine truth when it is presented to the mind. 



SPECIAL LIGET FROM HEAVEK 39 

in giving it, has not withheld anything necessary for its 
comprehension, so far, at least, as present duty is concerned; 
secondly, that to seek to control the inspiration of prophets 
and apostles by any fancied inspiration of our own is a 
miserable delusion; and thirdly, that as a consequence^ 
whether we approve or not, we must either feed on the 
words of men who wrote as they were moved by the Holy 
Ghost eighteen hundred years ago, or wither in our pride. 
And this not because ^the apostles and Scripture writers 
are set between us and God to fence us away,' but because 
the action of the Spirit of God on man, when not exercised 
miraculously, as at the planting of the Christian Church, 
and as in the case of the apostles and inspired writers of 
Scripture, is on the moral nature only, and never directly 
on the intellect ; that the Holy Ghost enlightens, not by a 
process of addition, but by one of subtraction ; not by 
giving to the intellect any light or power of which it 
would otherwise be deprived, but hy removing moral 
obstacles to the free and healthy action of the natural 
faculties. 

The contrary view, however spiritual or consoling it may 
seem, destroys all tangible distinctions between inspired and 
uninspired communications; favours mysticism; lowers 
the authority of the written Word ; and justifies, so far as 
anything can do, the most fanatical interpretations of Scrip- 
ture. For it is evident that if a man's understanding of 
Holy Writ depends on anything else than the right use of 
the faculties God has given him (which of course implies 
their non-perversion by dislike and prejudice), the Bible 
cannot be regarded as occupying the same position as any 
other book, but must be interpreted by a light which, 
try to explain it as we may, can never be more or less 
than a ^personal inspiration^ in which €ase, as related to 



40 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

any written document, such personal teachings must be 
supreme. 

It is both curious and instructive to observe how error 
changes its form without changing its nature. It would 
really seem as if Protestants, like Eomanists, believed that 
A Divine Eevelation, without an infallible Interpreter, 
w^as no revelation at all. Dr. Whately has well shown that 
this ' craving for infallibility, than which there is no more 
powerful principle in human nature,' — and of which the 
views we have combated in relation to the Holy Spirit are 
but one manifestation, — not only 'predisposes men towards 
the pretensions, either of a supposed unerring church, or 
of those w^ho claim or who promise immediate inspiration/ 
but becomes by consequence, as ^we have seen, the parent of 
no small amount of infidelity. It is an error ' that falls in 
at once with men's wishes and with their conjectures ; it pre- 
sents itseK to them in the guise of a virtuous humility ; and 
they readily and firmly believe it, not only without evidence, 
but against all evidence.' 

Vain, however, is it to hope that by any such means we 
can evade our responsibility. What w^e reaUy want is, 
that blessed indwelling of the Holy Spirit — the only 
infiuence we are authorized to seek and to pray for, — 
which is not intellectual, but moral ; which is inseparable 
from candour, love of truth, and obedience generally; 
which manifests itself in growing sympathy with the 
Divine character; and which therefore involves clearer 
perceptions of, and a deeper insight into, the Divine mind 
and will, as exhibited in the Bible, than can be obtained 
in any other way. For, saith the Lord himself, ' If thine 
eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.' 



CHAPTEE IX. 

ON DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN SCRIPTURE FACTS AND 
HUMAN INFERENCES. 

" The bigot theologiaii has an art, — 
A kind of hellish charm, that makes the lips 
Of truth speak falsehood ; to his Kking turns 
The meaning of his text ; makes trifles seem 
The marrow of salvation, and to a word, 
A sect, a sound, gives value infinite." 

POLLOK. 

Thus far we have treated the Bible simply as a Booh, and 
altogether irrespective of the particular teaching it is sup- 
posed to contain. We now proceed to deal with impedi- 
ments to its comprehension which spring up in our path 
after we have fully recognised the authority of the revela- 
tion, and are prepared to study Scripture as a Divine 
repository of Truth, intended for our practical guidance 
and spiritual advancement. 

The first to which we would draw attention is that which 
arises from the confusions engendered by mixing together 
facts and inferences. 

We are quite aware that an illustration or two will be 
needful to render the distinction we are drawing intelligible 
to ordinary readers; for popular attention has not been 
much directed to this point. Few are probably aware 
of the extent to which, in the exposition of Scripture, 
facts and inferences are blended; or how frequently, by 



42 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

this process, that which is merely Tiuman is, by theologians, 
placed on a level with that which is Divine. Few 
remember, that while theology is 'the science of infer- 
ences,' the Bible is merely a revelation of facts. 

But it is necessary, before proceeding further, to explain 
what we mean by a Scripture fact. And perhaps we 
cannot do this better than by calling attention to the 
following passage, which occurs in Eobert Hall's well- 
known sermon on 'the glory of God in concealing a 
matter.' 

These are his words : — ' The revelation contained in the 
Scriptures extends only to facts; not to the theory of 
these facts, or their original causes. The most important 
truths are communicated in a dogmatic, not a theoretic 
manner. We are taught, on the testimony of Him who 
cannot lie, insulated fads, which we cannot connect with 
those reasons with which they are undoubtedly connected 
in the Divine mind. They rest solely on the basis of 
Divine authority; and we are left as much in the dark 
with respect to the mode of their existence as if they were 
not revealed.' 

A Scripture Fact, then, is to us a revealed truth, dog- 
matically communicated ; resting solely on the basis of the 
Divine authority ; and viewed apart from any reasons for 
its proclamation, or any deductions which may be drawn 
from it. And this, be it observed, whether that which is 
revealed be an event, or whether it be what is usually 
termed a doctrine. 

By AN Inference we simply understand a deduction 
from some revealed truth. Such deduction may be right 
or may be wrong; for it is, at best, but the result of a 
process carried on by a finite mind, dealing with that 
which has relations to the Infinite. 



FACTS AND INFERENCES. 43 

The following examples will show what we mean : — 

(1) ' JesiLS looked round about, and saith unto His dis- 
ciples, Hoio hardly shall they that have riches enter into the 
kingdom of God!' (Mark x. 23); using the term 'riches' 
apparently in a very extended sense, and applying it, pro- 
bably, to all who, having full barns and provisions laid up 
for many days, were likely to forget their dependence on 
Him from whom they received their daily bread. This 
saying of our Lord's we call the Divine Fact. 

The apostles, * astonished out of measure, said among 
themselves, Who then can be saved?' or. How few will 
be saved! That was the Inference they drew; and it 
seemed to them a necessary, nay, an unavoidable one. 

The J.ord practically replies, Your finite minds are not 
capable of dealing with matters which have relation to the 
future world, when He adds, ' With men (or, according to 
the deductions of human reason from my words) it' — an 
extended salvation — ' is impossible, but not with God : for 
%vith God all things are possible' (ver. 27). 

(2) Jesus, according to the narrative of the evangelist 
(Matt, xxviii. 19), meeting the eleven on a mountain in 
Galilee soon after His resurrection, spake unto them, 
saying, 'All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. 
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in (or 
into) the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost' This is the Scriptural Fact; and since 
' all nations' meant the Gentiles (for their work among the 
Jews had for some time been going on), whosoever goes to 
heathen lands, or among any people where ' the Father' is 
not known, as revealed in * the Son,' and ever present by 
^the Holy Ghost,' and there teaches and baptizes his 
converts, obeys the injunction. He baptizes them into 
the belief of the one God, revealed as Father, Son, and 



44 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

Holy Gliost; just as John baptized the Jew into the 
belief that Messiah was at hand; and as the apostles 
baptized both Jews and Gentiles into the belief in a 
triune Jehovah. 

The Inference, now all but universally drawn from this 
fact, is, that therefore baptism is to be administered, either 
to infants, the children of Christian parents, who come into 
the world under the relationship in question (for, says the 
apostle, 'now,' i.e., by their birth, 'are they holy;' mean- 
ing by the term, they are no longer in the condition of the 
heathen, 1 Cor. vii. 14) ; o?- to adults, on their profession 
of a supposed renewal of heart, indicated in a special quick- 
ening of the spiritual life, by virtue of which they claim to 
be recognised in a new capacity, that of living members of 
the living Head ; the theo7'y being that, until this change 
takes place, men, however virtuous, and however firmly 
believing in Divine revelation, are not, in the sight of God, 
Christians, 

Now it is simply because the views of each party in the 
controversy between Baptists and P^dobaptists rest merely 
on inference, neither being able to furnish a single Scriptural 
example in pointy that di^asion in relation to it has become 
permanent, and reconciliation hopeless. 

* We say ^ in point,' because tlie case of tlie tliree thousand at Pentecost 
— of Cornelius — of the jailer — or of the Ethiopian eunuch, are not so ; all these 
being instances of baptism on conversion either from Judaism or heathenism. 
What we want, in order to settle the controversy, is an instance of the bap- 
tism, either as child or adult, of any person bom of Christian parents. As 
the Sacred Records stretch through two generations, during which thousands 
of children must have been born and brought up in Christianity, it is, to say 
the least of it, singular, on the supposition that the rite was, in their case, 
essential to membership, and introductory to the Communion of the Lord's 
Supper, that not a single reference to its administration, either to child or 
adult, is to be found in the New Testament. Baptism, as administered in 
the Apostolic Age, was such a public profession of Christianity as involved 



FACTS AND INFERENCES. 45 

Wlio does not see that, if the question is made to rest 
entirely on Scripture, it is quite possible that both parties 
may be wrong ; since, for anything that appears to the con- 
trary, baptism might be intended to have relation only to 
persons, whether Jews or heathen, entering into the Chris- 
tian Church, and so first recognising, hy a piiblic act, loith 
all its attendaM risks, their belief in God as their Father, 
revealed in Christ, and ever present by the Holy Spirit ? 
That such a profession carried with it, as a matter of course, 
the baptism both of slaves and children, we do not for a 
moment doubt, since the household was then subjected to 
the head of it, and would be immediately brought under 
Christian instruction. 

Surely, in a controversy carried on under such con- 
ditions, forbearance is a primary duty, and candour in 
judging others an imperative obligation. Far be it from us 
to imagine that God is displeased, either when parents 
dedicate their children, or adults themselves, to Him and to 
His Church by baptism with water ; but surely it is highly 
offensive to Him for brethren in Christ to question each 
other's honesty, when conclusions adverse to their own, in 
relation to any such obligation, are arrived at. 

(3) St. Peter teaches most distinctly that Christ 'hctth 
once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might 
bring us to God' (1 Pet. iii. 18); that 'His own self bare 

liability to persecution for Christ's sake. It is so in India still. It is so 
amongst the Jews everywhere. A man unbaptized may be a Christian by 
conviction without suffering loss, so long as he does not make a public pro- 
fession of it by baptism. Hence it is said, * He that believeth, and is bap- 
tized, shall be saved.' From some letters of the late Mr. Jay, of Bath, it 
appears that John Foster, the Essayist, although until his death a Baptist 
minister, took somewhat similar views to those we have stated. His most 
intimate friend (Mr. Hughes, of the Bible Society) says Foster never dis- 
pensed the ordinance of baptism, or attended the ministration of it. 



46 TEE STUDY OF TSE BIBLE, 

our sins in His own body on the tree;^ that ^hy His stripes 
we are healed ' (ii. 24) ; while St. Paul, with equal distinct- 
ness, asserts that Christ ' redeemed us from the curse of the 
law, being made a curse for us' (Gal. iii. 13) ; the author of 
the Epistle to the Hebrews, that ' without shedding of blood 
there is no remission ' (ix. 22) ; and our Lord Himself, that 
* the Son of man came to give His life a ransom for many ' 
(Matt. XX. 28). 

These are the great revealed facts on which the doctrine 
of the Atonement rests ; and happy is he who, receiving 
them in the spirit of a little child, believes and lives. 

The INFERENCES Ordinarily deduced are va;rious, and 
commonly relate rather to the philosofhy of the Atonement, 
than to the fact of its having been made. 
They are such as these : — 

(i.) God could not, in accordance with His justice^ have 
accomplished the salvation of man in any other way. 
(ii.) Christ propitiated God's wrath by His blood, 
(iii.) Christ was punished in order that Law might be 
satisfied, and so God be free to pardon, — and such like. 

Now it is quite clear that these, and all similar inferences^ 
whether right or wrong, are of little value compared with 
the fact to which they refer ; since a man may honestly 
hold all that Scripture reveals as to ' the necessity' of the 
sacrifice of Christ for the salvation of mankind, — all that 
is really included in such terms as ' propitiation,^ ' obla- 
tion,' 'satisfaction,' and 'sacrifice' (so far as Scripture 
informs us what these terms include), without feeling him- 
self at liberty to accept any one of the conclusions we 
have enumerated. Why, then, should I call my brother 
an unbeliever, if he is unwilling to admit the inferences T, 
perchance, may feel obliged to draw ? Why should I sepa- 
rate from him as heretical ? 



FACTS AND INFERENCES, 47 

True it is that many, when first awakened to a sense of 
the e'fil of sin, and to an apprehension of its penal conse* 
quences, can find peace only in such a contemplation of 
the cross of Christ as is involved in the thought that He, 
as the substitute for the sinner, literally bore the penalty 
of our transgressions. But this is rather the result of par- 
ticular teaching, than the impression naturally left by 
Scripture. And if it be equally true, as it unquestionably 
is, that there are others who habitually dwell much more 
on the sad fact of their natural alienation from God, than 
on their exposure to His condemnation ; who contemplate 
far more frequently the holiness and love of their heavenly 
Father, than His justice or His threatenings ; and who, 
therefore, only see in Calvary a transcendent mystery, before 
which they bow with awe, who shall justify us in con- 
cluding that to such the Cross is of none effect ? God 
forbid that we should consent, for a moment, to stake the 
great verity of man's redemption on any particular mode 
of explaining either the principle on which it rests, or the 
process by which it is accomplished. 

(4) Christ explicitly declares, in the Gospel, that He 
has a Church given Him of God, for whom, exclusive of 
the world, He on one occasion prays (John xvii.); and 
St. Paul speaks distinctly of such persons as ' elect,' and 
' chosen in Christ hefore the foundation of the world' (Ephes. 
i. 3—5). These are Scripture facts; and to deny them 
is to fly in the face of the clearest revelation. 

The INFERENCE deduced by some is, that God has ' fore- 
ordained the rest to dishonour and wrath, to be for their 
sin inflicted, to the praise of the glory of His justice.' 
{Assemh, Cat, Q, 13). By others, holding different views 
regarding human freedom, the conclusion is, that although 
' all' are called, in a sense which leaves them without 



48 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

excuse for not coming to Clirist, only 'the elect/ or, as 
some would put it, 'few/ will be saved; since, however 
free the human will, the resistance of the depraved heart 
is never overcome except by special grace. In either case 
the inference, heing purely Jiuman^ is of small value ; for 
who can tell whether both may not be altogether erroneous, 
and experience prove that the doctrine of Election per- 
fectly harmonizes with a much more extended salvation ? 
The truth is, that nothing short of a new revelation could 
substantiate half the conclusions of theologians. 

But let us not be mistaken here. We are not denying 
the propriety of drawing inferences at all, — for the process 
is a mental necessity; reason itself must depart before we 
shall cease to deduce one truth from another. Neither are 
we seeking to support the extravagance of those who will 
not admit any doctrine to be Scriptural which is not ex- 
pressed in Scripture language ; for every one knows that a 
mere string of texts may be made to prove almost any- 
thing. We are simply urging the importance of separating 
tlu fact, whatever it may be, from the inference ordinarily 
deduced therefrom ; and so of escaping the folly involved 
in giving to the one an authority which belongs only to 
the other. The one (the Scriptural fact), we hold to be 
Divine, and, therefore, authoritative ; the other (the infe- 
rence), however probable, is but human, and has, therefore, 
no right to lay claim to anything beyond prohahility. The 
inference may be more or less reasonable, and, therefore, 
more or less likely to be true; but it can never justly 
be urged upon any man's conscience as ' necessary to be 
believed/ 

The opposite supposition forms the basis on which all 
the creeds, formularies, and confessions of Christendom 
build their huge pretensions. The Church of England and 



FACTS AND INFERENCES, 49 

the Chiircli of Scotland, and we believe all the Continental 
Churches, alike hold that the articles of faith, which are 
to be regarded as ' requisite or necessary to salvation/ are 
not only ' what is read in Holy Scripture/ but ' what may 
be proved thereby.' The Church of England, therefore, 
binds her ministers to declare that the three creeds, ' the 
Nicene, the Athanasian, and that which is commonly 
called the Apostles' Creed, ought thoroughly to be received 
and believed' (Art. vi. and viii.) ; while the Church of 
Scotland, the Free Church, and Presbyterians generally, 
impose a Confesssion of Faith, the length, and breadth, 
and assumptions of which are perfectly astounding. The 
reason given for the imposition is the same in all cases, 
because ^they may he proved hy most certain warrants of 
Holy Scripture! 

We are, of course, writing only for Protestants, who 
hold, or profess to hold, in utter abhorrence the Eomish 
notion that a Bible, even at the best, is but ' a vulgar and 
imperfect vehicle of truth ; that doctrine is treasured up 
far more sacredly in the bosom of the priest, and far more 
safely dispensed by oral communication ; that tradition 
must explain the New Testament ; or that creeds possess 
an authority independent of the Scriptures.' And it is 
with this protest fully in view, that we lay it down as a 
cardinal rule in the study of the Bible, that Scripture facts, 
and inferences deduced therefrom, are never to be con- 
founded ; that Christian verities must always be carefully 
separated from theological propositions; that no human 
deduction from Scripture, however venerable by age, or 
however honoured by the support of great names, is ever 
to be insisted upon as if it were a matter of Divine Eeve- 
lation ; that Scripture truth, and human expositions of it, 
are on no account to be placed on the same level ; that the 



50 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

doctrines of God's Word must always be distinguished, by 
the broadest line of demarcation, from the command- 
ments of men, however wise or good such commandments 
may be. 

It was the neglect of this great principle which led, to 
the formation of that vast system of logical theology 
which, like Eomanism, has survived the wreck of empires, 
only to form the greatest of all obstacles to the union and 
peace of the Church of Christ; and to become a chief 
cause of the infidelity which now so frequently finds a 
home in the minds of speculative men. 

To class our human interpretations of religious truth, 
our inferences from it, or our formulas in expressing it, 
with the great Revealed Facts on which such truth alone 
rests, is to sap the foundation of all intelligent belief, and 
to betray the Gospel with a kiss. It is so, because it con- 
founds the essential with the unessential; makes both 
doubtful ; and so destroys all hope of attaining to certainty 
in religious truth. 



God, who hast prepared for them thai love Thee mch 
good thiTigs as pass man's understanding; enable us so to 
distinguish between the teachings of the Divine Spirit, and 
fhe conclusio'iis therefrom of sinful and erring men, that, 
ahiding in the simplicity of the Gospel, we may be preserved 
from all error, Deliv&r us, we beseech Thee, from everything 
tending to vjeaken the supreme authority of Thy Holy Word; 
that so, restin-g evermore under the shadovj of Thy wing, 
our souls may be kept in perfect peace, tJirough Jesus Christ 
our Lord, 



CHAPTEE X. 

ON BIAS, AS OCCASIONED BY UNDUE REVERENCE FOR GREAT 
OR GOOD MEN. 

" Truth, truth is God's ; He pours its hlessed rays ; 
Lavish of grace where sins and griefs abound r 
Him only for the saving lustre praise, 
Nor dread the mists which error's path surround ;: 
Nor let our pride that dire eclipse foretell, 
Which children of the night invoke and love so well."^ 

Lamartine — Sheppard's translation. 

By the Bias of Eeyerence,, we mean that which arises 
from an exaggerated regard for the many great men who 
have preceded us in the search for Truth, and whose con- 
clusions have "been received for ages a^ authoritative. 
These conclusions, in relation to Scripture, are, for the 
most part, embodied in the expositions of the Fathers, the 
Eeformers, or the Puritans ; they are presented to us in 
every variety of shape in standard commentaries and 
other religious writings ; they are enforced, in one form or 
other, Sunday after Sunday, in the pulpits of almost every 
religious denomination. 

An influence of this character is, from its very nature, 
all but overwhelming ; for it is wielded by men who have 
every claim on our sympathy and respect, and it presses 
upon us, like the atmosphere, from infancy to age, without 
disturbing our equanimity. To modest and humble 
inquirers, who distrust their own ability to judge, and 



52 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

long for guidance, it is commonly irresistible ; since sub- 
mission to the decisions of others is by such always 
regarded as essential to piety. It is supported from within 
by delusions which have long separated lay responsibilities 
from those of the ministry ; it is buttressed from luitJiout 
by indolence and carelessness ; it is defended by the pre- 
text that independent research might lead on the one 
hand to painful doubt, or on the other to irregular zeaL 
Priestcraft, wdierever it exists, always encourages a state 
of mind favourable to the influence of authority ; for its 
pretensions suppose that the people may advantageously 
be kept in a state of perpetual dependence. 

To get rid of this bondage it is only necessary to trace 
it to its source. The moment we begin to do so our 
chains fall ; for it then appears that with the same de- 
votion with w^liich we follow our pious forefathers, they in 
turn follow^ed theirs ; that the Puritans w^ere really but 
the pupils of the Eeformers ; that the Reformers, while 
rejecting much that had been said and done by the 
Fathers, bowed with most surprising humility before the 
theological opinions of Augustine; and that Augustine, 
with all his genius and piety, was so far from being a safe 
guide, that he notoriously supported nearly every super- 
stition of his time.' 

Having thus reduced, as w^e fairly may, the theological 
past — so far, at least, as it affects evangelical churches — 
to the authority of a single great mind, we must deal with 
Augustine precisely as Lord Bacon dealt with Aristotle ; 
we must subject him to fact. In doing this, we shall 
quickly find that we have the same errors to encounter in 
theology that Lord Bacon had in philosophy, and that the 
remedy for the one is the only remedy for the other. 

The errors in question are of two classes, — first, those 



BIAS OF REVERENCE, 63 

wliicli belong to the religious, which almost always simi 
themselves up in the declaration that all that can be 
known of Scri^oture is known ; that nothing now remains 
to be discovered ; and that since whatever is new cannot 
be true, independent inquiry is useless. The second be- 
long to THE SCEPTICAL, who, proceeding to the other 
extreme, are ever proclaiming, in spite of abundant evi- 
dence to the contrary, that the little we think we know 
is untrustworthy; that the world is really in darkness 
both as to its past and its future; and that little or 
nothing worthy of a rational man's confidence can, by any 
possibility, be made out of the Bible. 

The remedy, in each case, may find its expression 
(merely substituting Scripture for Nature) in the very 
words which Lord Bacon uses in reference to philosophy. 
' Man,' he says, ' the servant and interpreter, can only 
understand and act aright in proportion as he observes or 
contemplates God's order ; more he can neither know nor 
do.' His favourite phrase is, ' We must be content simply 
to stand before Nature and ask questions.' In like man- 
ner, the Christian must stand before Scripture, and feel 
til at he can do little more than observe and carefully note 
its facts.^ AVhoever faithfully follows out such a method 
will soon find, in the words of the great father of modern 
philosophy, ' how wide is the difference between the idols 
of the human mind and the ideas of the Divine mind.' 

But to do this it is absolutely necessary, first, to free 
ourselves from the vassalage of great names, and then to 
fear God and take courage. Our progress, when thus left 
alone to work out Truth, may be slow, but it is a comfort 
to be assured tliat it is certain of ultimate triumph. Yet 
not without difficulty. Whoever enters upon this course 
must lay his account with the endurance of no small share 
* We hare alreadj- fully explained tlie sense in wliicli we use this word. 



54 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE, 

of obloquy ; he must be content to suffer for follies and 
pretentions not his own ; he must be willing to endure 
the very natural remonstrances of those who have spent 
their liyes ' in reducing theology to order ; ' and he must 
be prepared to meet the suspicion w^hich inevitably falls 
upon every man who is bold enough to disregard the force 
of prevailing prejudices. 

We do not of course pretend that any one can now read 
the Bible as if it had dropt but yesterday from the clouds ; 
nor do we think it desirable that he should do so, even 
Avere it practicable. We are not among those who despise 
the opinions of the wise and good, either of our own or 
of past times. We rate the laborious researches of many 
of our commentators, both ancient and modern, at a value 
above all price. So far as these labourers have tended to 
promote purity in the text, or thrown light on any matter 
calculated to render that text better understood, no grati- 
tude can be too deep to be awarded to them. It is with 
their inferences alone we quarrel ; and above all, with the 
dogmatism which would force these inferences on man- 
kind, as if they had a right to stand side by side wdth 
Inspired Truth. 

It is the opinion of many, that a new and far more 
extensive reformation than that which was accomplished 
in the Sixteenth Century is at hand. If it be so, the best 
preparation we can make for its approach will be found in 
the extension to Truth of that deeper sense of responsi- 
bility which has of late years come over us in relation to 
Life ; in a growing conviction that he who is ' of the 
truth ' only rightly hears Christ's voice ; and by a corres- 
ponding assurance that truth cannot be reached by any 
process short of a laborious, self-denying, and independent 
search for it, in the spirit of the martyr, and under the 
purifying influence of the Holiest in the heart. 



CHAPTER XI. 



ON BIAS, AS ARISING FROM THE AFFECTIONS. 



** The cheerful supper done, wi' serious face 

They, round the ingle, form a circle wide ; 
The Sire turns o'er, wi' patriarchal grace, 

The big ha' Bible, ance his father's pride : 

His bonnet rev'rently is laid aside. 
His lyart haffets wearing thin an' bare : 

Those strains that once did sweet in Zion glide, 
He wales a portion with judicious care ; 
And, *Let us worship G-od,' he says, with solemn air. 

Robert Burns. 

By the Bias of Affection we understand that impulse in 
any given direction which the mind has received, either 
from early education and training, or from associations 
connected with the first steps of the spiritual life. 

We by no means regard such bias as in itself an evil. 
We are far from denying that truth is, to all of us, a pre- 
judice before it is a personal conviction. We think with 
cliUdren it ought to be so. But only during childhood. 
The passive must in due time be exchanged for the active, 
and the objective form must become a subjective reality, 
or that which has been received, however humbly, will not 
prove of much service in the struggle of life, or be found to 
stand firm when exposed to the pressure of temptation or 
doubt. This is emphatically true of Scripture, which must 



56 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

be ' inwardly digested/ as well as read, before it can come 
to be a part of ourselves, or, like food, strengthen and 
sustain us. 

At this stage it is that the Bias of Affection often operates 
unfavourably. It seems to many of us such a sacrilege to 
cast aside anything that has been sown in our hearts by 
the bedside of our infancy, and watered by the tears of 
those w^hom we can never again behold on earth, that we 
naturally shrink from undertaking any investigation which 
we foresee may perhaps lead to the breaking up of associa- 
ations so inexpressibly precious to us. And yet, as we all 
admit, it must frequently be done before truth can become 
a reality, or faith in God a living power. It is in such 
cases that we are made to feel the force of the declaration, 
'he that loveth father or mother more than Me is not 
worthy of Me.' 

Care, however, must always be taken to avoid the influ- 
ence of mere reaction. Many a man who has been re- 
ligiously, — perhaps we should rather say strictly brought 
up, — when he becomes free from parental or other control, 
flies to an opposite extreme of theological opinion, some- 
times for no better reason than because it is opposite. He 
has seen, it may be, weakness and inconsistency associated 
with certain professions, — perhaps even dominant selfish- 
ness or flagrant hypocrisy, — and so he flings himself off to 
the greatest possible distance from all his early associations, 
and thinks that in so doing he is acting wisely and honestly. 
But this by no means follows. He may be doing the very 
reverse. He is certainly guilty of folly, and probably of 
sin, in forsaking the faith of his fathers, if he has no better 
reason for doing so than a vain desire to manifest independ- 
ence of thought, or mere disgust at what he may consider 
vulgarity or insincerity in some of those who belong to it. 



BIAS OF AFFECTIO^\ 57 

rrincij)les are not to be so dealt with. Eight and wrong, 
truth and error, are not questions of taste, or interest, or 
conventional convenience, but solemn realities, on faithful- 
ness to which character both for time and eternity fre- 
quently depends. In avoiding Scylla, therefore, in this 
matter, let us beware of Charyhdis, 

But early instruction is by no means the only form in 
which human affection is apt to bias the views we take of 
Divine Truth. ' A man,' says a recent Avriter, ' may have 
been converted from a sinful life by hearing an Evangelical 
preacher, or by intercourse with an Anglo-Catholic priest. 
He is filled with gratitude and enthusiasm, and is eager to 
communicate to others the blessing he has received. He 
attributes his conversion to the particular pliase of revealed 
truth which was brought before his own mind, — whether it 
be a strong feeling of the heinousness of sin, and the doc- 
trine of salvation through the Atonement, or wdiether it be 
union with Christ through the blessing of the sacraments 
and the Church. Believing liimself to be saved by the 
influence of these doctrines, he naturally dwells on them 
almost exclusively, sees them everywhere in the Bible, is 
blind comparatively to other portions. Hence his bias in 
interpreting the document which gives him a title to the 
kingdom of heaven.' ' This,' says he, ' I am persuaded, is 
one principal cause why very earnest men take such dif- 
ferent views of the interpretation of God's word, — pure 
gratitude for salvation received.' * Add to this, affection 
for the individual by and through whom the Gospel has 
been imparted, and love for the religious community with 
which the new convert has been brought into connection, 
— involving, as it almost invariably does, participation in its 
prejudices and party spirit, — and we shall then perhaps be 
* *' Idealism Considered," by the Rev. Wm. Gresley. 



58 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

able to perceive the vastness of the hindrance thus cast in 
the way of candid inquiry. 

But is there no remedy for this ? We think there is, — 
in the recollection that in all matters of truth and duty the 
human must bow before the Divine ; that God uses all 
kinds of instrumentality, from the Eomish priest to the 
city missionary, and every shade of doctrine, from the 
highest Calvinism to the lowest Arminianism, to bring 
sinners to Himself ; and that therefore no authority what- 
ever in favour of any particular agency or doctrine can 
properly be drawn from the mere fact that God has made 
use of it for the conversion or spmtual awakening of the 
children of men. 

Agencies and particular doctrines, — regarded as forms of 
thought, and separated, as such things easily may be, from 
that which is ' Spirit and Life,' — are at best but instruments 
through which attention is arrested, thought excited, and 
reflection deepened. 

Truth, as the pabulum of the soul, and Grace, as the 
gift of God to sinful man, are above them all. 



Lord of all grace, purify, we heseech Tliee, our hearts hy 
Faith which is in Christ Jesus ; and so cleanse us from all 
evil, that everything which heclouds and hinders the simple 
reception of Thy Truth may he put far from us; and the 
fruits of the Spirit being made manifest in our life and con- 
versation, our eyes may he opened to discern ivondrous things 
out of Thy law. 



CHAPTER XII. 

ON BIAS, AS AKISING FROM PERSONAL AND ECCLESIASTICAL 

INTERESTS. 

" By what unseen, and unsuspected arts, 
The serpent, Error, twines round human hearts." 

CoWper. 

The Bias of Interest is so inucli meaner in its nature than 
that of aftection, and so much less worthy of respect than 
that which arises from reverence for great men and past 
ages, that, however powerful its influence, people rarely 
acknowledge themselves to be under its sway. And yet 
without attributing any special baseness, who can deny 
that, as a fact, ^the interpretation of Scripture has got 
mixed up Avith worldly interests and parties, and passions 
and feeling, and is influenced as much by these causes as 
the view taken by Eadicals or Conservatives of an Act of 
Parliament, or of an historical document, is influenced by 
their respective opinions.' 

To suppose that such influences act only in connection 
with national establishments and permanent endowments, 
is simply absurd. The property of voluntary associations, 
as secured by trust-deeds; income, likely to be withheld 
on any material change of sentiment ; status in a sect ; 
trade derived from a congregation ; professional connectiorus, 
and possible alliances, — all have their weight, — sometimes 
in deciding the choice a man makes of his spiritual home, 



60 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

and mucli more frequently in 'prmenting the adoption of 
opinions likely to be offensive, or even distasteful, to 
others. 

Such are the terrible hindrances from bias, which now 
stand in the way of a full and fair investigation as to what 
is, or is not, religious truth. 

But are we, then, to conclude that to interpret Scripture 
like any other book is simply impossible ; that every man 
who is of age to set about such a work, must of necessity 
do so either under the dominant influence of authority or 
interest, or else in blind subjection to the prejudices of 
his birth and education? By no means. The same 
forms of truth may not indeed adapt themselves to all 
classes of minds. They never have done so yet, and 
they probably never will. It may be, for aught we know, 
undesirable that they should. But of this we may be 
assured, that when it pleased God to make known his 
mind and will to man by and through a book, he meant 
that book to be understood; that if it is not understood, 
the fault is ours, and not His; that the hindrances to its 
comprehension are moral and not intellectual ; and that it 
is impossible for us to say to what extent unity of judg- 
ment in relation to its teachings onight be realized were 
men but honestly disposed to study its contents with no 
other object than to ascertain what it says. 



Eternal Spirit ! ivho alone canst enable its rightly to apply 
Thy Holy Word, grant that we may derive from it those 
lessons only which Thou didst intend it to impart; that so, 
being preserved from all the errors and inventions of men, we 
may evermore ivalh in Thy light, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord, 



CHAPTEE XIII. 

ON WHAT IS OFTEN CALLED, READING THE BIBLE FOR 
' EDIFICATION.' 

*' In the troubles of Earth's exile 
Thou dost peace and joy afford ; 
Holy Volume ! which revealest 
Each kind promise of my Lord ; 
Light and guide in toils and dangers, 
Balm of sadness, healing Word." 

From the Italian — Sheppard's Translation. 

The late Dr. Maitland, in an ingenious essay on impedi- 
ments to the right understanding of Scripture, introduces 
a man of business, who, with a certain sort of self-satisfac- 
tion, apologizes for his own shortcomings thus, — ' I am a 
plain Christian, worried with the cares of my business and 
family, and glad to catch half an hour to read my Bible. 
I must make the most of it. I must employ the little 
leisure I can snatch at intervals in devotional reading, and 
my object must be my own edification.' 

The reply made to him is, — ' To be sure, you must read 
for your edification ; but what is the distinction which you 
seem to draw between reading for your edification, and 
reading with a view to learn all that God offers to teach ? ' 

He answers, — 'Why, I mean that I must read the 
Scriptures with application to myself, to my own circum- 
stances, to my own soul. If I come to a part which I do 
not understand, I have not time and learning to investigate 
its meaning ; and when I attempt it, I often find that the 



62 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

time, which should have been employed in devotion, has 
been wasted in turning over commentators, from whom, 
after all, I get, perhaps, no satisfaction as to the real 
meaning of the passage, though some of the more pious 
and practical among them may assist me in applying it to 
myself. Now, if I do not thus derive a personal application 
to myself J what use is there in my reading such a part of 
Scripture at all ? ' 

The rejoinder which follows — and it expresses the one 
great lesson we are anxious to impress in the present 
chapter, is this : — ' To speak plainly, I do not know that, 
with your views and ideas, there is much use in your 
reading such a part of Scripture, because, as soon as you 
have found that you cannot understand it, or make it apply 
to yourself as it stands, you set to work to make some 
meaning which you do not yourself believe to be the real 
meaning, and to fetch out some doctrine or precept which 
the text does not contain ; and this habit is so prejudicial, 
that I believe it would be better for you only to read such 
parts as you cannot doubt do really apply to your own 
circumstances. It is not likely that you will reap any 
benefit from reading the rest of the Scriptures, sufficient 
to counterbalance the injury which must arise from the 
habit of setting aside all inquiry as to the real meaning 
of the Word of God, and fancying that any imaginations 
of your own are more profitable than the mind of the 
Spirit.' 

If this method of treating Scripture — so graphically 
described — be common, and we fear it is, we may cease to 
wonder that so much of God's Word is unintelligible to the 
general reader. Any book, thus handled, must necessarily 
become so ; for the moment we allow ourselves to read 
with any other aim than to understand the meaning of the 



EE AIDING FOR 'EDIFICATION: 63 

writer, we darken that which is before us so thoroughly, 
that it is all but hopeless to expect it can ever become 
clear. 

In reading Scripture, we are hound, and that most em- 
phatically, — no less by reverence for its Author than by 
integrity of heart, to ask but one question, — ' What does it 
say ? ' And if, to get this question answered, it is neces- 
sary to ascertain not only what the precise words are, but 
when and to whom they were spoken, — to observe the 
connection in which they stand, and to note the circum- 
stances under which they were uttered, we must neither 
grudge the labour that may be involved, nor imagine that 
we can evade its necessity by indulging in our own fan- 
cies, however ingenious they may be, or by prolonging 
mere meditation, however spiritual or devout. When the 
true meaning of a passage is made out, and not till then, 
shall we be able to apply it with simplicity of purpose, or 
receive and realize as living words that which has been 
written or spoken. 

In doing this, a thoughtful and intelligent reader will 
gladly avail himself of such helps as he can obtain. For 
the meaning of words, he will pay attention to the marginal 
readings given in the Authorized Version ; he will consult 
intelligent commentators ; he may, perha,ps, think it worth 
while to learn enough Greek to enable him to study such 
' Notes ' as those of Dean Alford. 

For the rest, ordinary sagacity will generally suffice. The 
Bible always takes for granted that readers are possessed 
of common sense ; that they will give the same kind and 
amount of attention to inspired statements which they are 
in the habit of bestowing on ordinary writings ; and that 
they will read its communications continuously, and as a 
whole. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

ON EEADING TO ASCEKTAIN THE SENSE. 

«* The Bible ! that's the Book. The Book indeed. 
The Book of books ; 
On which, who looks, 
As he should do, aright, shall never need 
"Wish for a better light 
To guide him in the night." 

George Hesbert. 

ISTo one who has not tried the experiment, can imagine 
what a flood of light falls upon a Pauline Epistle, when it 
is read through at one sitting, with quickened attention to 
its scope and purpose. In no other way can we perceive 
its lights and shadows, its tone and perspective, or get above 
the one-sided interpretations which are continually thrust 
jpon us both from the press and the pulpit. And that 
which is true of the Epistles, is true also in relation to 
other parts of the Divine Eecord. 

Instead of treating Scripture in this way, — supplicating 
the Holy Spirit for a right state of heart, and in harmony 
with that supplication, struggling manfully against the 
impulses of prejudice and pride, — too many never read the 
Bible at all, excepting under the limitations imposed by 
chapter and verse ; and then, for the most part, with an 
utter disregard of the connection subsisting between that 
which they peruse, and that which they omit. Prayer for 



READING TO ASCERTAIN TEE SENSE, 65 

Divine Light seems, to sucli persons, all that is required in 
order to arrive at truth, however idle, or uncandid, or 
bigoted they may be. 

The tendency Avhich textual preaching has to foster this 
habit of reading Scripture merely in disjointed fragments, 
has frequently been adverted upon. We are now, however, 
only speaking of the pnvate reading of the Word ; and in 
relation to this, we say deliberately that, if we would be 
honest before God, — if we would shrink with righteous 
susceptibility from sacrificing a true thought, in order to 
gain thereby the use of mere words in favour of some doc- 
trine or practice to which they were never intended to 
apply, — we shall feel that nothing can justify the use of 
any portion of God's Word apart from a consideration of 
the context, or in a sense different from that which it 
bears in the portion of the record from which it is taken. 

It is this carelessness about Truth in the application of 
Scripture that has made the Fathers, with all their 
eloquence and piety, such untrustworthy interpreters. It 
is this which compels us, in perusing their writings, to ^paitse 
and doubt ; since passing events, party interests, or the hope 
of polemical triumphs, were, to them, a continual excuse for 
the most outrageous violations of the original meaning of the 
Inspired Volume. It is this which forces from us the 
exclamation, — ' The words that are used are the words of 
the Prophet or the Evangelist, but the preacher stands 
behind them and adapts them to his own purposes.' 

Hence it is that patristic writers so often support a great 
canise 'in a spirit alien to its own;' sometimes adopting 
arguments that are unchristian in their ultimate grounds ;' 
sometimes 'resting upon errors the refutation of errors;' 
and sometimes ' drawing upon the armouries of darkness 
for weapons that, to be durable, ought to have been of celes- 

F 



66 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

tial temper;' oiow, it may be, trespassing against 'affec- 
tions whicli furnish to Christianity its moving powers;' 
and novj against ' truths which furnish to Christianity its 
guiding lights/ On behalf of God ^ they often seem deter- 
mined to be wiser than God; and, in demonstration of 
spiritual power, they do not scruple to advance doctrines 
which the Scriptures have nowhere warranted.'* The 
issue of it all was, — the Eomish Apostacy. 

The dangers of the present day are not so very dissimilar 
as they may at first sight appear. It is chiefly through 
misapplications of inspired words, that so many are now 
led to choose startling rather than Scriptural modes of 
doing good ; sometimes to adopt language, both in prayer 
and preaching, which would almost seem to imply that the 
speaker loves the ignorant and the wretched more than 
Christ does ; and sometimes to talk as if they forgot that 
the most enlightened spiritual convictions are those which 
are most habitually held in submission to our Maker, and 
which are least tinged by self-seeking or display. Nor is 
the fear groundless that, in proportion as the Church sanc- 
tions any kind of extravagance in the use of Scripture, 
will the ground of faith itself be nullified ; certainty in 
Bible interpretation be destroyed ; and arbitrary principles 
be established, which must eventually lead either to igno- 
rant credulity or to universal scepticism. 

We lay it down, therefore, as a rule which should never 
be violated, that he who would understand his Bible must 
beware of throwing false associations around true words, 
or of apijlying the truths of Eevelation in any way not In 
harmony with the aim and object of the Eevealer. 

* De Quincey and Dr. Jowett's Essay. 



CHAPTEE XV. 

ON THE ACCOMMODATION OF SCRIPTURE. 

" Word of the holy and the just ! 

To leave thee pure our Fathers bled ; 
Thou art to us a sacred trust, 
A relic of the martyr dead ! 
Among the valleys where they fell, 

The ashes of our Fathers sleep ; 
May we, who round them safely dwell. 
Pure as themselves the record keep." 

Anon. 

That accommodations of Scripture are, to a certain extent, 
sanctioned both by our Lord and His Apostles, cannot be 
questioned ; yet, be it observed, always under conditions 
whicli prevent misconception. In no instance that we are 
aware of, does a quotation made on inspired authority 
darken the primary or literal meaning ; on the contrary, 
in most cases, a clear and distinct recognition of the origi- 
nal sense is involved; and in all^ the citation, whether 
allusive, or illustrative, or intended to indicate parallel 
circumstances, is simple and natural. 

Hindrances are occasioned whenever the words of Scrip- 
ture are so used as to cloud their true meaning ; when the 
reader, instead of being enlightened, is misled by biblical 
quotation ; and when the mind of the Spirit, though pro- 
fessedly expressed, is really neglected or perverted. 

Such is unquestionably the case when texts intended 
for one purpose are applied to another ; when the messages 



68 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

of the Prophets to Israel of old are read as if they were 
addressed to the men of this generation ; when warnings 
of temporal calamity are silently changed into threatenings 
of eternal woe ; when promises of earthly good are trans- 
formed into predictions of spiritual blessing; and when 
Christ is supposed to be referred to, in passages which 
clearly indicate that no such thought was in the mind of 
the inspired speaker or writer. 

The examples we propose to give must be regarded only 
as specimens of a class ; they are furnished chiefly for the 
purpose of illustration. 

(1) 'Prepare to meet thy God' (Amos iv. 12) is fre- 
quently used in public discourse as if the Prophet, in these 
words, called upon all men to prepare for death and judg- 
ment. Yet this is not the fact. The sacred writer is not 
referring to death at all, but to the temporal judgments 
which God had inflicted, and threatens still to inflict, on 
the rebellious Israelites. The passage that oitght to be 
quoted for the warning of the ungodly is Acts xvii. 31, 
since this is unquestionably addressed to such persons, 
and is, moreover, a distinct revelation of the New 
Testament. 

(2) ' The harvest is past, the summer is ended ^ and we are 
not saved ' (Jer. viii. 20). This text is constantly quoted as 
if it implied that for the parties spoken of the day of 
grace was past ; and then the words that immediately 
follow, — ' Is there no balm in Gilead ; is there no physician 
there ? ' are regarded as prophetic of Christ. Yet, taken as 
they stand, and in connection with the circumstances 
under which they were uttered, they simply mean, 
' One year after another, — one campaign after another, 
— passes, and we are not saved from the enemy.' {Mcttt, - 
Henry,) 



ACCOMMODATIONS OF SCRIPTURE. 69 

(3) * Thine eyes shall see the king in his leauty : they shall 
hehold the land that is very far off' (Isa. xxxiii. 17). How 
often have these words been whispered in the ear of the 
dying believer, in the sense of a promise that he shall soon 
see Christ, and find rest in heaven. And yet (like 1 Cor. ii. 
9) it has no such reference. The true meaning is, ' The 
king (Hezekiah) shall put off his sackcloth, and shall 
appear in his beautiful and royal robes; and, the siege 
being raised, they (the people) shall go abroad, the empire 
of Hezekiah shall be extended, and distant parts be thrown 
open to them.' {Henry, Loioth, Boothroyd, and others) It 
is quite true that the Christian looks forward to a period 
when his eyes shall see Christ, his King, in His beauty, 
and enjoy a bliss greater than eye hath seen, or ear heard, 
or the heart of man conceived ; yet nothing can excuse the 
^perversion of texts, in order to express a truth capable of 
being well supported by legitimate means. 

(4) 'And Gallio cared for none of those things' (Acts 
xviii. 17). This passage is frequently expounded as if it 
meant that the Deputy of Achaia was a man equally 
regardless of right or wrong, — too indolent or careless to 
take the trouble even to be just. The reverse is, however, 
the fact. It was because he was an upright Eoman magis- 
trate, and felt that his jurisdiction did not extend to 
questions relating to the Jewish law, that he refused to 
allow himself to be mixed up with the senseless pre- 
judices and passions of an excited mob. To call a man, 
who is careless about spiritual things, a Gallio, is as absurd 
as it is misleading. 

We have very recently heard of a sermon having been 
preached, on the death of a most excellent chief pastor of 
the Church of England, from this text, ' And his Bishopric 
let another take' (Acts i. 20), in utter forgetfulness that it 



70 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

applied to Judas ; and also of a popular Eomanist writer 
having defended the rapid utterance of * Masses ' by the 
Catholic Clergy from the passage, ' That them doest, do 
quickly ' (John xiii. 27). Absurdities like these seem 
scarcely credible, and yet there is no limit to them if once we 
allow ourselves to be guided by sound, rather than by sense. 
We quote two more instances in point, — 

(1) '/ have trodden the wine-jy^ess alone] and of the 
■maple there was none toith me ' (Isa. Ixiii. 3). This passage, 

in consequence of its frequent accommodation, is commonly 
understood to refer to the sufferings of the Saviour. Bishop 
Heber, and other hymn writers, use it in this sense, as if 
they were quite unconscious of its true meaning. And yet 
the slightest attention to the context will show that it 
really refers to Christ coming in triumph, to take vengeance 
on His enemies. No other meaning can be attached to it, 
except by stopping in the middle of a verse. The text, as 
a whole, thus reads, — ' I will tread them ' (not be trodden 
upon by them) ' in mine anger, and trample them in my 
fury ; and their blood shall be sprinkled on my garments, 
and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance 
is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come' 
(ver. 3, 4). Compare with this passage Eom. xvi. 20 ; 
Eev. xiv. 19 ; and xix. 11 — 13, and all is plain. 

(2) ' The whole head is sick, and the vjhole heart faint 
From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no 
soundness in it ; hut ivounds, and bruises, and putrefying 
sores ' (Isa. i. 5, 6), is a text constantly used in prayer to 
express the doctrine of the depravity of human nature. 
The slightest attention to the context would suffice to 
show that the words in question simply refer to the con- 
dition of Israel as stricken hy punishment. She is com- 
pared to one who has been beaten from head to foot. 



A CCOKMODA TIONS OF SCRIPTURE, 7 1 

Again, ' An inference or a lesson may be very Scrip- 
tural, and yet not justly derived from the text we quote 
for it. AVhen Ehud said to Eglon, ' I have a message from 
God unto thee ' (Judg. iii. 20), he uttered some strikijig 
words ; but his message was a dagger, and his intention 
murder. Is a minister justified in making these words the 
text of a Gospel sermon ? We think not ; because Ehud 
told a falsehood, whereas the preacher tells truth, and comes 
with a message of love for men's salvation. 

Further, ' In the words of a verse in the Prayer-book 
Version of the Psalms, Christians often pray that they 
may be ' like giants refreshed with new wine.' The ex- 
pression (Psa. Ixxviii. 65) is a bold simile, applied, not to 
man, but to the Lord, — refers to His wrath upon His 
enemies, and suggests no Christian grace whatever.' 

Is it needful to say that such a method of quoting 
Scripture, — in accordance, not with truth, but with our 
own preconceived notions, — is every way misleading and 
mischievous ? Is it not clothing our human thought in a 
Divine garment, and then demanding for it an authority to 
which it has no claim ? Never should it be forgotten that 
Scripture is Inspired Truth only in the sense in which it 
was originally given ; in no other form whatever can it, 
with any propriety, be termed the Word of God. 

On this subject, the late Dr. Pye Smith has some 
adniirable observations in his ' Principles of Interpreta- 
tion.' Speaking of the evils which arise from thus 
accommodating Scripture, he observes, — ' It may be said, 
indeed, that the citation is merely made in the same way 
in which men often quote a line of poetry, and apply it to 
any new occasion. Yet it should be recollected, that in so 
applying a fine passage of Virgil or Milton, for instance, 
we can do no harm ; we can lead no man into error by it ; 



72 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

the new application is never supposed to have been the 
original intention of the author. But since the Scriptures 
are the repository of God's Eevelation, it is evidently a far 
more serious matter for us to quote Scriptural passages, 
even in an incidental way. It is almost certain that most 
hearers and readers will imagine, that the transient cita- 
tion or allusion is mentioned as evidence in the particular 
respect for which it is adduced. 

'The habit of quoting passages of Scripture in ways 
which imply a meaning and application exceedingly remote 
from their genuine design is not a trifling evil. It is pregnant 
with injuries to the cause of Scriptural knowledge and 
practical edification. It encourages among Christians a 
widely prevailing practice of reading the Scriptures with 
little attention, and of applying detached passages in 
sentences entirely foreign to their proper meaning.' 

Let the object we have in view in writing these chapters 
be steadily kept in mind, — the promotion of a more intelli- 
gent reading of Holy Scripture, by pointing out and seek- 
ing to remove the various hindrances which at present 
interfere with our so doiag, — and it will be seen at once 
that the ' accommodations ' of which we complain, what- 
ever may be the intentions of those who make and defend 
them, do really ' darken counsel,' and so far tend to destroy 
the Divine testimony. Eead with the impressions pro- 
duced by such expositions as those we have referred to, 
the Bible instead of being felt to be, as it really is, the 
most interesting book ever penned, becomes to the reader 
dull, because made dark ; and hard to understand, becasue 
treated as if it were a mere collection of disjointed frag- 
ments, to be interpreted by the aid of devout fancy or 
spiritual caprice. 



CHAPTEE XV I. 

ON PERVEKSIONS BY PROJECTION. 

* * A critic on the Sacred Book should be 
Candid and learn' d, dispassionate and free : 
Free from the wayward bias bigots feel, 
From fancy's influence, and intemp'rate zeal." 

CowPER. 

We regard Scripture as projected, wlien passages wliich 
relate to the Apostles only, or to the miraculous state of 
things which obtained during the planting of the Christian 
Church, are used as if they were intended to apply to our- 
selves, or, at least, to institutions which had no existence 
when the words in question were uttered. That Scripture, 
when subjected to this process, becomes perverted, will be 
seen clearly enough when particular instances are brought 
under examination. 

A few only can here be cited. 

(1) ' Except a man be horn of water and of the Spirit, he 
cannot enter into the hingdoin of God' (John iii. 5). The 
application of this text to Christian baptism is by no 
means uncommon; some maintaining therefrom the ab- 
solute necessity of baptism by water to salvation, while 
others, who shrink from the consequences involved in this 
conclusion, affirm that through baptism alone can any man 
become a member of Christ's Church, or a partaker of 
' covenanted ' blessing. 



74 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

Yet nothing can be clearer than that when these words 
were uttered, Christian baptism was unknown ; that they 
refer exclicsively to the baptism of John; and that the 
lesson they were intended to teach was, that Christ must 
be openly acknowledged, as well as inwardly believed in ; 
that confession before man, whatever reproach or danger 
might thereby be incurred, was essential to discipleship ; 
and that the conduct of Mcodemus, and that of the class 
he represented (for he came as a representative man), 
was incompatible with fidelity (Luke vii. 30 ; John xii. 
42, 43). 

(2) ^ Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 
His blood J ye ham no life in you ' (John vi. 53). These 
words, with others that precede and follow, are ordinarily 
regarded as applying to the ' Holy Communion ; ' some (as 
the Eomanists) founding thereupon, in connection with 
the later Institute of the Eedeemer, the doctrine of Tran- 
substantiation ; and others (as the High Lutherans) that 
of Consubstantiation. 

Where, however, we may well ask, is the connection to 
be traced between the conversation here recorded, and the 
subsequent appointment of the Lord's Supper ? As no 
such ordinance then existed, it is utterly impossible that 
those who heard Christ speak could have imagined any- 
thing of the kind. Nor does his teaching imply it. The 
comparison our Lord draws is between ' the meat which 
perisheth' (ver. 27), and that 'which endureth to ever- 
lasting life ' (ver. 49, 50) ; and the lesson imparted would 
have been just as important and intelligible as it now is, 
had the Eucharist never been instituted. It was the 
revelation of that new and wondrous Life, — ' life unto life," 
which, greater than the life He gives 'unto the world/ 
they, and they only, enjoy, who become here spiritually 



PER VERSIOX JB Y FROJECTIOK. 75 

united to the Eedeemer by a living faith, and to whom 
His flesh and His blood, — His life and His death, — are as 
* manna ' to support, and as ' wine ' to gladden and refresh. 
This doctrine naturally appeared to many of the disciples 
—then very imperfectly acquainted with His nature and 
dignity — so monstrous, that they could not bear the say- 
ing, but ' went back, and walked no more with Him ' 
(ver. 66). 

To pretend, as some have done, in order to support High 
Sacramentarianism, that those who went away were re- 
volted at what they considered a sort of cannibalism, is 
either dishonesty, or unmitigated folly. The Jews were 
conversant with the imagery Christ employed (Ezek. iii. 
1 — 3), and eotdd not, therefore, mistake His meaning ; the 
response of Peter clearly shows that the Twelve understood 
Him aright, for when asked, ' Will ye also go away ?' they 
reply at once, ' To whom shall we go ? Thou hast the 
vjords of eternal life' (ver. 68). He had Himself just told 
them, ' The flesh profiteth nothing ; the words that I speak 
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life ' (ver. 63). We 
ourselves colloquially employ very similar language when 
we bid^ men not only ' mark and learn,' but ' inwardly digest^ 
Divine truth. 

There seems to us nothing whatever in the text to justify 
even the association of this discourse with the Supper, how- 
ever strongly that institution may recall and illustrate its 
teaching. Projection here leads inevitably to perversion, 

(3) ' The prayer of faith shall save the sick' (Jas. v. 15). 
There can be no doubt that this text is often regarded as 
a promise ; that expectations of the recovery of sick per- 
sons are frequently founded upon it ; and that, when dis- 
appointment follows, a painful sense of doubt comes over 
the soul, although concealed, as much as possible, by 



76 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

exclamations on the inscrutable and mysterious providence 
of God. 

But is it given to us as a loromise ? Certainly not. Tlie 
context clearly shows that it applies only to a certain class 
of sick — those who were judicially punished by sickness 
for special sin. The reference to Elias, as having by his 
prayer brought rain, is alone jjroo/ that a special, and not 
an ordinary state of things, was in the mind of the 
Apostle. 

Hezekiah certainly had his life lengthened in answer to 
his prayer ; but the whole transaction was j)eculiar, and 
connected with the Theocracy. The king seems to have 
regarded the particular sickness in question in the light of 
punishment (Isa. xxxviii. 12, 13) ; he pleads his integrity 
as the reason why his life should be prolonged (ver. 3) ; and 
God confirms the promise to raise him up by miracle (ver. 
5—8). 

David, under similar circumstances, prays for the re- 
covery of his child, but — in vain (2 Sam. xii. 16 — 19). 

Paul says nothing about special prayer for Trophimus, 
whom he leaves sick; and while he gratefully acknow- 
ledges the mercy of God in raising up Epaphroditus, lest 
he should be crushed by over-much sorrow, he receives his 
recovery, not as an anticipated reply to the prayer of faith, 
but as a sovereign and unexpected mercy. Absolute and 
happy acquiescence in the Divine will is always our duty, 
and should be one of our highest privileges. 

One or two additional illustrations will, perhaps, tend 
to show still more clearly, the extent of the evil we are 
endeavouring to point out. 

(4) ' When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, Re will guide 
you into all truth ' (John xvi. 13). Here, again, we have 
words spoken to the Apostles which are commonly, hy pro- 



PER VERSION B Y PROJECTION, 11 

jection, applied to ourselves. But it will be said, Do they 
not so apply ? One would think it was enough to answer 
by asking two other questions, — First, Are we, as a fact^ 
in the present day guided by the Holy Spirit 'into all 
truth ' ? Or, — explain it as we may, — are we left to 
flounder amid errors of all kinds, quarrelling perpetually 
about religion, almost doubting whether any reply can be 
obtained to the question, — What is Truth ? 

Then, secondly, Were the Apostles guided, in such a 
sense, and to such a degree, that they were thereby qualified 
to be the teachers of mankind through all ages ? Most 
assuredly they were. Why, then, should we doubt the true 
application of the text ? As well might we say that the 
Spirit brings to OUR ' remembrance all things whatsoever ' 
that Christ taught when He was on earth, or that He shows 
us * things to come' (John xiv. 26 ; xvi. 13). 

It is surely a blessed thing to know that the inspired 
teachers of the Church were directly and authoritatively 
taught of God ; but to imagine that WE are thus instructed 
is to destroy the value of Scripture altogether, by claiming 
for ourselves communications from Heaven of a character 
which, if real, cannot be other than infallible. When 
shall we learn that the action of the Spirit of God on the 
mind of man, if direct, is insjnration, whether the recipient 
be a good or a bad man, — a Balaam or a Paul ? 

All other light is simply moral ; enlightening the mind 
only by and through the purification of the heart ; and this, 
whether the man so illuminated be an Augustine, a Luther, 
a Calvin, or an English peasant. To all such, the voice of 
Scripture is, — ' If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall 
be full of light.' He that ' doeth the will of God shall 
know of the doctrine.' 

The fruits of the Spirit are ' love, joy, and peace,' not 



78 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

mental iUumination, except in so far as these Divine quali- 
ties necessarily produce it, Too long have we fancied that 
the Spirit of God will enlighten us, in spite of cherished 
prejudices, bigotry, and want of candour. Little need is 
there, under such circumstances, for our marvelling that 
Inspu-ation should be so often misunderstood, or that it is 
so frequently confoimded with genius, or spiritual intuition. 

The only text that, superficially viewed, seems to justify 
the ordinary notion, is 1 John ii. 20, 'Ye have an unction 
from the Holy One, and ye know all things,' on which 
Dean Alford justly remarks, ' The expression explains it- 
self, as referring to all things needful for right action in 
the matter under consideration — the ability to detect anti- 
christs ' (ver. 18, 19). The 'unction' (xpio-zia) is love and 
purity, which, as we have already said, is the means and 
weapon by which alone error can be detected and resisted. 

(5) ' If two of you shall agree on earth as touching any- 
thing that they shall ash, it shall he done for them of My 
Father which is in heaven. For where two or three {of you) 
are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of 
them' (Matt, xviii. 19, 20). 

' I hesitate not ' (says the Professor of Theology in the 
Free Church College, Aberdeen) ' to build upon this pro- 
mise the following proposition : That the more extensively 
we can organize an agreement among all that love the Lord 
Jesus to ask for specific things in prayer, and the more 
symphonious those prayers are, th.e more assuredly will 
those things be done for us of His Father which is in 
heaven.' Hence money is raised, and machinery created, 
to secure what are called ' concerts ' in prayer. 

We should be the last to discourage social and united 
supplications for mercies of any kind, but we cannot help 
asking, 7s there no mistake here ? If the words quoted, 



PER VERSION B Y PROJECTION. 79 

apply to Christians generally, those which immediately 
precede them must do so too ; and in that case, any Chris- 
tian community, meeting as ' a Church,' may say, ' What- 
soever (we) bind on earth shall be bound in heaven ; and 
whatsoever (we) loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven ' 
(ver. 18). 

Again, ' James and John ' did agree together to ask our 
Lord an important favour ; and they put it in these words 
— ' Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us what- 
soever we shall desire ; ' but the only answer they received 
was, 'Ye know not what ye ask' (Mark x. 35 — 45). Yet 
the request was a spiritual one ; for although ' the ten ' 
were angry with their two brethren for putting it, the 
Lord was not. He does not rebuke the petitioners, but the 
ten, for their want of charity and humility in misjudging 
the two sons of Zebedee. Still, as we have already seen, 
it was not granted. What can be clearer, then, than the 
fact that the particular promise in question related ex- 
clusively to matters essential to the Apostles in the accom- 
plishment of their work as His inspired servants ? 

To us it is said — ' Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, 
then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we 
ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, 
and do those things that are pleasing in His sight ' (1 John 
iii. 21, 22). And again, — ' And this is the confidence that 
we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will. 
He heareth us : and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever 
we ask, we know that (in the highest and best sense) we have 
the petitions that we desired of Him ' (1 John v. 14, 15). 

We very much doubt whether there is any reason to 
believe that, as a fact, God listens with more regard to 
united prayer than to solitary supplication ; that Christ is, 
in any higher sense, present in the large assembly than in 



80 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

the lonely closet of the believer ; or that, as we are now, 
although in various phrase, perpetually told, ' the avenues 
of God's grace to man are narrowed/ because Christians do 
not meet in crowds to pray. 

We might multiply these examples to almost any extent, 
were it desirable so to do. Passages relating to the Jewish 
Sabbath are in this way unscrupulously applied, without 
the slightest authority, to the Lord's day of the Christian ; 
texts relating only to the successive priests of the Levitical 
law (such as Heb. v. 4) are quoted in support of ' an order ' 
which has no such pretensions ; exhortations to submission, 
founded on the possession of extraordinary gifts. Apostolic 
choice, or, it may be, inspired qualifications (Heb. xiii. 
7, 17), are applied in relation to men who are in no way 
whatever distinguished above others, except by the pos- 
session of an ' office,' to which they have been presented or 
elected by mortals as. fallible as themselves ; and claims the 
most transcendental, involving the power of giving the 
Holy Ghost, of binding and loosing, and even of remitting 
or retaining sin, are defended by perversions of Scripture 
not one whit more respectable than those which are con- 
stantly brought forward in defence of Eomish superstitions. 

Abuses of this kind are now, unhappily, so common, 
that they excite but little attention, and, when noticed, 
are generally regarded as unimportant. We trust, how- 
ever, that the day is coming when these things will be en- 
dured no longer ; when it will be thought as unjustifiable, 
in interpreting Scripture, to project the past into the 
present, as it is to reverse the process, by insisting, as many 
do, that the echo of the New Testament is the voice of the 
Old, and that the entire Gospel pervades alike the Psalms, 
the Proverbs, the Song of Solomon, and the history of the 
Jewish kincrs. 



CHAPTEE XVIL 

ON THE EXAGGERATION OF SCRIPTURE. 

• " Pure oracles of Truth Divine I 
Unlike each fabled dream 
Given forth from Delphos' mystic shrine^ 

Or groves of Academe ! 
Childhood's preceptor 1 manhood's trust i 

Old age's firm ally 1 
Our hope, when we go down to dust. 
Of immortality ! " 

Bernard Bakton. 

By the exaggeration of Scripture we understand the use of 
passages in a sense stronger than that they were originally 
intended to bear; whether such 'adding to' the Divine 
Testimony, — for it is nothing less, — arise from mistransla- 
tion, from the erroneous interpretation of imagery, or from 
general misconception as to the limits under which any 
given statement is to be received. 

The misfortime is, that these exaggerations prevail most 
on subjects in relation to which it is of all others important 
that the exact line of Truth should not be overstepped ; 
that they are often winked at, if not encouraged, from an 
uiidue anxiety to produce immediate and salutary impres- 
sion ; and that commonly all discussion in relation to them 
is deprecated, on the ground that, as men are already feir 
too little affected by the evil of sin, and far too careless 

G 



82 TEE STULT OF TEE BIBLE. 

respecting its consequences, an}i;hing which seems to lessen 
the terribleness of disobedience, even though it should be 
by the removal of error, must be practically injurious. 

The result, in accordance with that great law of retribu- 
tion which operates as surely in religion as in everything 
else, is, that at the preseni time Infidelity plants its foot on 
these very exaggerations as the fii^st step to confirmed un- 
belief; insinuates that, as a rule, the assertions of the 
pulpit and the calm conclusions of the scholar do not 
harmonize; that Truth, both in books and sermons, is 
commonly sacrificed to effect ; that things are not exactly 
as they are represented; and that the most alarming 
appeals may be divested of much of their power by a 
careful examination of the words in which they are em- 
bodied, and the texts by which they are enforced. So true 
is it that exaggeration, — whatever may be its immediate 
effect, — invariably weaJce/is the cause it is intended to 
support. 

Scripture is sometimes exaggerated by mere emphasis 
being placed on words that are not in the original em- 
phatic. ' Often have we been pained to hear persons say 
of a passage, ' It is / icill ; and when the Lord willSj who 
can withstand ? ' for ' He doeth according to His ivill in 
the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the 
earth/ AYhat is this but a Protestant cabala, putting a 
meaning upon the Sacred Word which it was not intended 
to express ? ' 

Little better is it to quote such a passage as Psa. viL 11, 
in order to show that ^ God is angrj^ icith the wicked every 
day ; ' since the words in italic form no part of the inspired 
original. The Prayer Book version of the text is, in this 
case, the true one — ' God is provoked everv^ day.' 

For the same reason, — i. e., to avoid practical untruthful- 



EXAGGERATION OF SCRIPTURE. 83 

ness, — the word Sheol, which is commonly translated in the 
Old Testament ' Hell/ should never be used as if it implied 
the place of future punishment. When the Psalmist says, 
* The wicked shall be turned into Hell' (Psa. ix. 18), why 
should we shrink from admitting that he simply means the 
G'rave ? It is the same word which is used prophetically 
of Messiah, ' Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hell ' 
(Psa. xvi. 10). It is the same word that Jacob uses when 
he speaks of his ' gray hairs ' being brought ' with sorrow 
to the grave' (Gen. xlii. 38). 

' Let us not be mistaken here. It is not that we wish to 
diminish the force of any threatening that we thus write. 
On the contrary, it is because we have an unshaken faith 
in the plain declarations of Scripture that we maintain 
the absolute necessity of neither adding one word, nor 
striking off one particle, from the testimony of Kevelation. 
Exaggeration is treason to Truth, 

With these feelings, we venture to call attention to the 
following passages : — 

(1) ' Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade 
men' (2 Cor. v. 11). This text, which is frequently 
brought forward to justify what are called 'alarming' 
sermons, is the stronghold of men who, with the best 
intentions, but with mischievous results, are continually 
denouncing sinners as 'in the hands of an angry God,' 
— every hour on the brink of endless and unutterable 
woe. 

Yet the Apostle does not really refer to the terror of the 
Lord at all. The word wrongly translated ' terror,' is pre- 
cisely the same word as that which St. Paul uses a little 
further on (vii. 1), in the passage, 'Perfecting holiness in 
the fear of God.' Dean Alford interprets the text thus, — 
' Being conscious of the fear of the Lord, we are free from 



84 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

double dealing ; ' and that is no doubt what the Apostle 
means. 

(2) ^ For every one shall he salted with fire, and every 
sacrifice shall he salted with salt ' (Mark ix. 49). 

Nearly all the older commentators assert, although 
without the slightest warrant, that the phrase ' salted with 
fire,' is intended to apply to wicked men, who will be 
' seasoned with fire itself, in order to be eternally tor- 
mented.' Baxter is, however, an exception, as he con- 
siders the fire intended to be that of ' affliction on earth.' 

The context, if carefully examined, demonstrates that 
this is the true meaning. Our Lord had been teaching the 
disciples, — for it is to them He is speaking, that, as in 
cases of gangrene, it is frequently necessary to lose parts of 
the body in order to preserve life, so, in relation to the soul, 
it is needful to cut off, at whatever cost, everything that 
would, if not thus separated, occasion eternal ruin. 

AVhat more natural after this than the unexpressed, but 
not unfelt inquiry on the part of the disciples, ' Why such 
severity ? ' The words that follow supply the answer, — 
' For ' (because) ' every one ' (who enters my kingdom) 
' shall be salted with fire ' (purified by discipline) ; ' and 
every sacrifice ' (as under the Old Testament dispensation) 
' shall be salted with salt ' — seasoned with grace. Col. iv. 6 
(to render it acceptable ; see Lev. ii. 13). He, therefore, 
who will not submit to this purifying process, who will not 
consent to the removal of all that hinders life and growth 
in the soul, chooses death rather than life, and practi- 
cally prefers the loathsomeness of corruption to eternal 
purity and blessedness. Then follows the exhortation 
(ver. 50), — 'Have salt' (wisdom and grace) 'in yourselves, 
and have peace one with another.' For the conversation 
had originated in a dispute as to who should be the greatest. 



EXAGGERATION OF SCRIFTVRE, 85 

(3) * Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire ? 
who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?' 
(Isa. xxxiii. 14). 

Every one knows that these words are constantly used 
as if they referred to the punishment of sinners in the 
world to come ; yet not a single commentator of any repute 
ventures so to interpret them, Matthew Henry, who in 
this case represents others, shows clearly enough that the 
fire referred to was that occasioned by the Assyrian army, 
and that no reference whatever is made to the world that 
is to come. Dean Alford (in a note on Mark ix. 49) seems 
to think that, in any case, the fire is to be regarded as puri- 
fying ; since the answer to the question is, — ' He that 
walketh in righteousness ; ' he alone can endure these 
calamities, because he sees the hand of God in all. 

On such a text as Mark ix. 44, — 'Where their worm 
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched,' considering its 
awful import, we would rather say no more than this : — It 
is a quotation from Isaiah (Ixvi. 24), where the words are 
used, not in connection with living and sensitive beings, 
but with dead carcases. Eead, therefore, in the sense in 
which Isaiah wrote them, — the sense, as we believe, in 
which Christ quoted them, — they fully harmonize with 
other passages of Scripture which teach that the wilfully 
impenitent lose all the blessedness of Eternal Life, endure 
all the pangs of the ' second death,' whatever that may 
mean, and become eternally loathsome, ' an abhorring to all 
flesh.' 

What right have we to change the meaning altogether, 
and turn ' the worm ' into remorse of conscience, and the 
* unquenchable fire ' into the undying torment of the sinner 
who is cast into it ? We may think we deepen thereby the 
horrors of eternal woe, and by that process deter men from 



86 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

sin. Greatly is it to be feared that by these devices we but 
pave the way for the more rapid advance of Popery and 
Infidelity. 

(4) ' But I say unto you that every idle word that men shall 
speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment ' 
(Matt. xii. 36). 

It was in consequence of misconceiving the true object 
of this saying of our Lord that the Puritans in England, 
and the Covenanters in Scotland, inculcated a severity of 
manners which has often, although unjustly, laid them 
open to the charge of hypocrisy. They thought that Christ 
spake of the many trivial observations and levities which, 
especially among the young, mark social intercourse in all 
parts of the world, and so they frowned upon all mirth, 
however innocent. But this was an error. True indeed it 
is, that a man's res'ponsihility extends to every action he 
performs, every word he utters, and every thought he en- 
courages. Nor would it be difficult to show that, on any 
other supposition, responsibility itself would be altogether 
destroyed. Still, this is not the meaning of the passage 
under consideration. 

The warning of the Lord, from the context, is evidently 
directed against the senseless accusation of the Pharisees, — 
' This feUow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the 
prince of the devils.' The charge was but an idle one, — 
a mere malicious taunt, — for the men who made it did not 
believe what they asserted. Yet the accusation, notwith- 
standing its levity, involved the sin of blasphemy. It was 
an ' idle word.' In like manner profane oaths, in which the 
most awful denunciations are frequently expressed without 
the slightest intention of affixing any serious meaning to 
the phrases uttered, are ' idle words ' which fall under the 
special condemnation of the text. 



EXAGGERATION OF SCRIPTURE. 87 

(5) ' / keep under my body, and bring it into subjection : 
lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I 
myself should be a castaway' (1 Cor. ix. 27). So writes the 
Apostle ; and many tell us that he here intimates that, so 
far from being assured that he was safe in Christ, he 
trembles, lest, after all his labours and sufferings, he should 
fall into some sensual snare, and be eternally lost. But 
this is not his meaning. What Paul really felt so anxious 
to secure was, (notwithstanding all its sorrows and trials,) 
the continuance of his Apostleship, and its exceeding great 
reward. He disciplines himself, lest carelessness should 
lead to a fall of any kind, by which his character would be 
injured, and he become thereby a vessel unfit for the 
Master's use. ' Know ye not,' he says, * that they which 
run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize V 

Instead of furnishing more instances, we submit the 
following general observations : — 

(a) It is an exaggeration to expound passages of Scrip- 
ture which declare the total depravity of man, as if they 
were intended to teach that every one of his thoughts and 
feelings are, by nature, base and bad ; that all men, in the 
sight of God, are equally wicked ; or that the children of 
Adam are actually destitute of everything that can be 
spoken of as morally lovely. Scripture says no such thing. 
It speaks only of man's natural destitution of all that is 
worthy the name of holiness; of everything that could 
serve for his justification in the sight of God. 

(b) It is a familiar exaggeration to talk as if every per- 
son, young or old, was bound to consider or to speak of 
himself as ' the chief of sinners,' because the Apostle Paul, 
reflecting on the melancholy fact that he had once been a 
persecutor of the Church of Christ, so designates his own 
condition. By the phrase in question, St. Paul simply 



88 . TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

gives US to understand that he regarded his own lot as 
special, his sin as peculiar, and his filling the office of Apostle 
as a more wonderful display of mercy than any other man 
could boast of. Such expressions, when they occur in the 
diaries of persons who, by Divine grace, have been singu- 
larly preserved from temptation to evil, seem to involve 
more or less of unreality. 

(c) It is but an exaggeration to say, as many of the old 
divines used to do, that ' sin is an infinite evil, and deserves 
an infinite punishment, because it is committed against an 
infinite God/ No such method of making men sensible of 
the aggravated character of their guilt is sanctioned by 
Scripture. It is there deemed enough to say, and with a 
far deeper impressiveness, ^that it is an evil thing and 
bitter ' to forsake the Lord (Jer. ii. 19); that 'it is a fearful 
thing ' (by rebellion and impenitence) ' to fall into the hands 
of the living God ' (Heb. x. 31) ; that the great aggravation 
of human guilt is, that it is always committed against a 
law of love. ' Eor this,' — because it is contrary to the law 
of love, — ' Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not 
steal' (Eom. xiii. 8, 9). 

(d) The broad distinction usually drawn between the Old 
and New Testament dispensations, relative to rewards and 
punishments, is commonly an exaggerated one. It is not 
true to assert, as is frequently done, that the retributions 
threatened to the Jew were temporal, while those of the 
Christian are eternal ; for it would probably be found, if 
the secret histories* of Christian men could be exposed to 
view, that many of them are now as severely punished 
on earth for their sins as ever the Israelite was. Tlie 
Psalmist's difficulty as to the prosperity of the wicked, 
could find no solution until he went into the temple of 
God, and considered their end. Under the Jewish dispen- 



BXAGOERATIOK OF SCRIPTUEK 89 

sation, tlie righteous were constantly in affliction; and 
under the Christian, ' Godliness is profitable unto all 
things, having promise of the life that now is, and of 
that which is to come ' (1 Tim. iv. 8). 

It is in this spirit of exaggeration that doctrines are often 
pushed to consequences which Scripture, to say the least, 
does not sanction, and which, by their extravagance, often 
greatly promote dangerous reaction. 

By a similar one-sided exaggeration of particular truths, 
good men sometimes bring themselves practically to deny 
that * godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise 
of the life that now is' as well as of ' that which is to come ' 
(1 Tim. iv. 8) ; and hence fancy they ought to denounce as 
evil, philanthropic associations, government, and magistracy, 
— everything, in short, that seeks to improve the world by 
other means than the preaching of the Gospel. 

Teaching of this character cannot be otherwise than 
hurtful. What we need is more faith in Scripture, and less 
in Theology ; more confidence in the calm thoughts of the 
Inspired Volume, and less in the excited utterances of 
fallible men. Till we get this, the serious students of the 
Divine Word will h^few, and the hasty acceptors of extrava- 
gance, many. 

Once more, therefore, we warn all honest students of 
Holy Scripture to ' take heed how they read ; ' to beware of 
interpretations which, however popular, can neither be sus- 
tained by the scholar, nor justified by the devout ; to dread 
especially those forms of ttnbelief which disguise themselves 
under the robe of earnestness ; but which are really nothing 
better than expressions of that want of faith in Scripture 
as it is, which is the curse of the Church, and the ruin of 
the world. 



CHAPTEE XVIII. 

ON TYPICAL AXD ALLEGORICAL INTERPRETATIONS. 

** how unlike the complex works of man 
Heaven's easy, artless, unencumbered plan! 
N^o meretricious graces to beguile ; 
No clustering ornaments to clog the pile ; 
From ostentation as from weakness free 
It stands, like the cerulean arch we see, • 

Majestic in its own simplicity." 

COWPER. 

Few thouglitfiil readers of Scripture will dispute that eve7its 
in the earlier dispensation sometimes foreshadow other 
events in the later. As readily will it be allowed, that 
illustrations are not unfrequently drawn from the Old Tes- 
-iament by the writers of the New, in which j^ersojis there 
spoken of are regarded as prefiguring other and later per- 
sonages. 

Our Lord himself in this way illustrates his burial and 
resurrection by the history of Jonah (Matt. xii. 40), and 
His lifting up on the cross by that of the brazen serpent 
(John iii. 14). Again, He is said to be 'a High Priest after 
the order of Melchisedek ' (Heb. vii.) ; while the preserva- 
tion of Noah and his family in the ark seems, by the 
Apostle Peter, to be regarded as symbolical of the preserva- 
tion of the elect (1 Pet. iii. 20). 

Nothing, however, is built on these resemblances. They 



TYPICAL INTERFRETATIOXS. 91 

illustrate later truth, but cannot, on that account, strictly- 
speaking, be termed types ; since there is nothing to show 
that either the events or persons referred to were designed 
to be such, and that therefore they should be regarded as 
' actual prophecies ' of things to come. 

In answering the question, ' What rule should be adopted 
in deciding whether a passage or a person is or is not 
typical ? ' we believe that none safer or better can be laid 
down than that which is advocated by Bp. Marsh. It is 
this : * There is no other rule by which we can distinguish 
a real from a pretended type than that of Scripture itself. 
There are no other possible means by which we can know 
that a previous design and a pre-ordained connection existed. 
Whatever persons or things, therefore, recorded in the Old 
Testament were expressly declared by Christ and His 
Apostles to have been designed as prefigurations of persons 
or things relating to the New Testament, such persons or 
things, so recorded in the former, are types of the persons 
or things with which they are compared in the latter. 

' But if we assert that a person or thing was designed to 
prefigure another person or thing, where no such prefiguration 
has been declared hy Divine authority, we make an assertion 
for which we neither have nor can have the slightest found* 
ation.' In short, to borrow the words of Professor Moses 
Stuart, *just so much of the Old Testament is to be ac- 
counted typical as the New Testament affirms to be so, and^ 
no more' This takes the whole question out of the hands 
of fanciful expositors, and enables the most unlettered reader 
to decide what is tjrpical and what is not. 

Dr. Davidson, in his ' Introduction,' a little modifies this 
view ; but the result is not, after all, very different. He 
says, ' Various places in the New Testament intimate or 
expressly assert that most of the institutions peculiar to 



92 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

the old prefigured spiritual things under the new economy. 
The Epistle to the Hebrews plainly shows that the entire 
Levitical law, with its sacrifices, rites, and priests, fore- 
shadowed better things (Comp. x. 1 ; vii. 11 — 22 ; viii. 
1 — 13 ; ix. 1 ; x. 18). The same view is given by Paul in 
the Epistle to the Colossians (ii. 17). The Epistle to the 
Galatians has it also (iii. 24). But inasmuch as the various 
parts of these institutions are nowhere placed side by side 
with spiritual correlatives, it is obviously unsafe for us to do 
more than to receive generally that which it has not pleased 
God to explaiu in detail. So far as these types have a pro- 
phetic character, they are clear enough for practical pur- 
poses ; but, like other prophecies, they are not to be inter- 
preted niimitely, according to the fancy of the expositor.' 

If these principles had always been adhered to, from what 
a load of overshadowing error would Scripture have been 
delivered. For what is a man to make of his Bible who is 
told by one, that Moses, in 'forty particulars,' typifies 
Christ ; by another, that * every passage in. the Old Testa- 
ment looks backward, and forward, and every way, like 
light from the sun, not only to the state before and under 
the Law, but under the Gospel too ; * by a third, that there 
are forty-nine typical resemblances between Joseph and 
Christ, and seventeen between Jacob and Christ, — his worst 
actions being regarded equally symbolical with the best.* 

Nor should it be forgotten (for it is a solemn warning), 
that on this use of the supposed types and figures of the 
Old Testament the Eoman Catholic Church buUds most of 
her tenets. 

All this folly, for it cannot properly be designated by any 
other name, rests on the notion that Truth instead of being 
simply revealed in the Bible, is to be developed out of it by 
* Mather, Keach, Taylor, Gould, and others, quoted by Fairbaim. 



TYPICAL INTERPRETATIONS, 93 

human ingenuity ; that underneath its direct teachings lie 
intimations which may justly be made the basis of new 
discoveries ; and that depths of meaning are to be found in 
the plainest statements, if only the investigator be spiritual 
enough to discern them. 

Let this doctrine once be allowed, and nothing can be 
clearer than that, under its operation, the Word of God is 
turned into an enigma, and Truth lies prostrate at the mercy 
of the fanciful, the ingenious, and the weak. ' Under such 
methods,' it has been well said, ^ we may shut our lexicons, 
and draw lots for the sense.' 

Intimately connected with this abuse of Scripture, and 
equally foolish and dangerous, is the attempt to attach m(n^e 
than one meaning to any passage of Holy Writ, whatever 
variety of applications it may admit of. 

The Fathers, as we have already said, are untrustworthy 
as expositors, mainly on account of the vicious habit into 
which they fell, of multiplying meanings in Scripture. 
Some held to a fourfold, some to a threefold, and others to 
a twofold sense in the Sacred Text. Origen is supposed to 
have maintained a twofold sense, and a fourfold ap'plication, 
of all Scripture. Others denied a literal sense altogether ; 
and most of them imagined that such a sense was far too 
meagre to be worthy of God, and that the literal meaning 
was merely intended to be the vehicle of higher and more 
ethereal teaching. The Bible by this means was made, in 
their hands, ^ to reflect every hue of fancy, and every shade 
of belief, in those who assumed the office of interpretation ; ' 
and the result was, that instead of being rendered service- 
able for practical instruction, it soon became ' one vast sea 
of uncertainty and confusion.' 

The school in question is not yet extinct. Many still 
regard this fanciful mode of dealing with Scripture as 



94 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

eminently spiritual ; some by its help developing out of 
the prophecies the most extraordinary conclusions concern- 
ing passing events; and others, holding a different view, 
explaining away, by a like process, the plainest declarations 
of the Word of God relative to the Second Advent of Christ, 
and the character of the dispensation under which we live. 

The death of Abel, we are still told, prefigures the sacri 
fice of Christ ; ' Enoch is a figure of the Church (of the 
latter day), miich shall be taken away before human evil 
reaches its climax, and before the Divine judgment falls 
thereon ; ' while ' Noah, on the other hand, is a figure of the 
remnant of Israel, who shall be brought through the deep 
waters of affliction, and through the fire of judgment, and 
led into the full enjoyment of millennial bliss, in virtue of 
God's everlasting covenant/ 

The building of Babel indicates 'the spirit in which 
associations are now formed for purposes of philanthropy, 
religion, or politics.' Sodom and Gomorrah represent the 
w^orld as distinguished from the little flock; and Eebekah 
leaving her Father's house to marry Isaac, is called ' a most 
touching and beautiful illustration of the Church, under the 
conduct of the Holy Ghost, going onward to meet her 
heavenly Bridegroom.' 

We pause here ; and in doing so are anxious to avoid 
misconception. We are far from denying that the Scripture 
narratives of the Old Testament are intended to teach us 
very important spiritual lessons ; and we will yield to no 
one in reverence for these Divine oracles. It is because we 
reverence them so highly, that we remonstrate against this 
mischievous habit of ' adding to' them that which is purely 
human and largely erroneous. 

We feel most deeply that in all ages the Church has been 
far too apt to forget that this is not her home ; that her 



TYPICAL INTERPRETATIONS. 95 

cliildren are but pilgrims and strangers here, as all their 
fathers were ; and that with most of the ambitions of earth 
the Christian should have nothing to do. But when we 
are told, in effect, that progress in science is sin; that 'a 
Christian asserting his rights ' with his fellow-man is not 
* perfect as his Father, for his Father is dealing in grace, 
whereas he is dealing in righteousness ; ' that all the concerns 
of the world, even its government and magistracy, are to be 
abandoned to the ungodly, we cannot but protest most 
earnestly against what we consider to be unscriptural per- 
versions of God's Holy Word. 

We conclude by laying down the following rule : — He 
who would understand his Bible must be content to regard 
as typical or allegorical such portions of Scripture only as are 
declared to be such on Inspired authority ; he must be satis- 
fied with the one plain and paramount meaning which 
manifests itself to the simple-minded in connection with 
the context ; and disregarding all human fancies, however 
spiritual the teacher of such imaginations may be supposed 
to be, he must determine, at all hazards, to take the Book 
just as it stands ; to accept it in the spirit of a little child ; 
to confess that he has before him but fragments of a truth 
that is, in its entireness, infinite ; and be content to wait for 
the day when that which now often seems to us to be 'torn 
into a thousand pieces, and scattered to the four winds of 
heaven,' shall be gathered limb to limb, and ' moulded with 
every joint and member into an immortal feature of loveli- 
ness and perfection.' 

Almighty God, grant us, we pray Thee, the spirit of 
wisdom and of a sound mind; that in all sobriety and 
humility we may search the Scriptures, and so he enahled 
rightly to interpret the revelation of Thy will, through Jesus 
Christ Our Lord, 



CHAPTEE XIX. 



ON TECHNICAL TERMS IN SCEIPTUEE. 

" Our fathers, in the days gone by, 
Read thee in dim and sacred caves, 
Or in the deep wood silently 

Met, where thick branches o'er them waved. 
They sought the hope Thy record gave, 

"When thou wast a forbidden thing, 
And the strong chain and bloody grave 
Were all on earth thy love could bring." 

Anon, 

Every science, and Theology among the rest, has its tech- 
nical terms. 

With these, so far as they are merely Theological, and 
not Scriptural, we do not intermeddle. We propose to 
notice such only as occur in our Authorized Version, and_ 
which derive a colouring, in the eyes of ordinary readers, 
from their technical use in theological discussions. 

We fully admit that many of these terms cannot be dis- 
pensed with ; that such words as Eegeneration, Conversion, 
Atonement, Election, Covenant, Law, Grace, Salvation, 
Justification, and Sanctification, are not to be set aside 
because they have often been used without discrimination, 
or been sometimes regarded as offensive to men of taste. 
Yet is it of great importance that these phrases should be 



TECHNICAL TERMS, 97 

Scripturally understood ; that they should not be expounded 
in accordance with merely theological associations; but 
always in accordance with the sense they were intended to 
bear in the particular passage wherein they may occur. 
Most of them are used in different places, in different senses ; 
and if this fact be not recognized, nothing but confusion of 
thought can ensue, e.g. — 

Eegeneration, in its ordinary acceptation amongst us, 
is intended, and rightly, to express that great moral change 
which is elsewhere denominated being ' born again ' — born, 
' not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will 
of man, but of God ' — (John i. 13). Yet it is indisputable 
that in the only two places in which this particular word 
occurs in the English Version of the New Testament, it 
does not mean anything of the kind. In one instance (Tit. 
iii. 5), it is used in the sense of a change of profession hy 
lapttism; in the other (Matt. xix. 28), it is employed in the 
sense of Eesurrection, — ' when the Son of man shall sit in 
the throne of His glory.' 

Conversion is sometimes used to express an entire and 
radical change of conduct, following renewal of heart ; and 
sometimes to indicate return from a temporary course of 
wrong doing. It is used in the former sense in the Acts 
(xv. 3), where Paul speaks of the conversion of the Gen- 
tiles : it is used in the latter sense by our Lord, when He 
says to Peter, ' AVhen thou are converted,, strengthen thy 
brethren' (Luke xxii. 32). 

Atonement is a word which occurs but once in our 
version of the New Testament (Eom. v. 11), ^nd. there it is 
mistranslated, since it ought to have been rendered 
* Eeconciliation.' As it stands, it conveys the idea of 
substitution by sacrifice, a truth which, whether taught ornot 
in Scripture, is not expressed in the passage in question, 

H 



98 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

Election is a term ordinarily understood as implying 
the selection by God from eternity of certain persons to 
be saved from hell, and made holy in Christ ; the rest of 
mankind being left to that natural weakness and perversity 
which is their sin, and which will inevitably involve them 
in eternal misery. Into this view, regarded as a doctrine 
we cannot hero enter ; but it is right to observe, that in the 
Xew Testament the w^ord is frequently, if not ordinarily, 
used in relation to service. 

In this sense it is applied to Christ (Matt. xii. 18 ; 1 
Pet. ii. 6) ; to angels (1 Tim. v. 21) ; to the Apostles 
(John XV. 16 — 19) ; and to Christians generally (1 Pet. 
ii. 9). In the Old Testament it is so used with regard 
to Christ (Isa. xlii. 1) ; and to David (2 Sam. vi. 21 ; Psa. 
Ixxviii. 70). 

Grace sometimes stands for ' the free and eternal love 
and favour of God, which is the spring and source of all 
the benefits we receive from Him ' (Eom. xi. 6 ; 2 Tim. 
i. 9 ; John iii. 16). Sometimes for the work of the Spirit 
renewing the soul (Eom. vi. 14; 2 Cor. xii. 9). Some- 
times for the Divine favour, as manifested in reconciliation 
(Rom. V. 2), in the love of Christ (2 Cor. viii. 9), and in the 
Gospel generally (1 Peter v. 12). Sometimes it is put for 
the virtues wrought by the Spirit of God in the heart of a 
renewed man (2 Cor. viii. 7 ; 2 Pet. iu. 18). And sometimes 
it merely means the favour or friendship of a fellow- 
mortal (Gen xxxix. 4). In each of these cases the context, 
and that alone, decides the meaning. 

Covenant, ^though always implying ' an agreement,' is a 
word that is applied in the Bible in various ways. There 
is the Covenant of Works (Gen. ii. 17), and there is the 
Covenant of Grace (Ephes. i. 3 — 4; 2 Tim. i. 9). There is 
the Covenant of which Circumcision was the seal, and with 



TECHNICAL TERMS. 99 

which the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish economy 
were inseparably connected ; and there is the New Cove- 
nant (Heb. viii. 6 — 8), which brings freedom from the 
burdensome ritual resting on the Jew. The importance of 
keeping these distinctions clearly in mind becomes obvious 
when we read what St. Paul says in relation to Law, 

Law, in Scripture, certainly does not always mean the 
same thing. Sometimes it. stands for conscience, or the 
Law of Nature (Eom. ii. 14) ; sometimes for the Moral 
Law, as embodied in the Ten Commandments (Rom. ii, 
25 ; vii. 7) ; and sometimes for the Ceremonial Law of the 
Jews (Gal. iii. 11 : Phil. iii. 5 ; Heb. vii. 19). It is in this 
latter sense alone that St. Paul uses it whenever he speaks 
of the impossibility of Justification by the Law. He does 
not, of course, mean to imply that man can stand before 
God, justified by works, in any sense; but his argument 
always relates to the Ceremonial Law. He would have 
been the last man to maintain that at any period of his 
life he was morally blameless ; although he insists that 
ceremonially he was without fault (Phil. iii. 6). It is this 
Law of Ordinances alone that Christ has abolished 
(Ephes. ii. 15). 

Luther, with great power and wisdom, used the doctrine 
of Justification by Faith alone, as his most trusty weapon 
in contending against indulgences, pardons, masses for the ^ 
dead, and such like superstitions. Wesley and Whitefield 
urged it in England as against formal observances, ^h.Qt\\QY 
in the shape of prayers, church going, sacraments, or alms- 
giving. In the present day it is too often presented as if 
it were the antagonist of good works ; whereas, in Scrip- 
ture, faith and works are always regarded as inseparable. 
It was probably to meet some such tendency, that the 
Apostle James wrote his Epistle (Jas. ii. 14 — 26). 



100 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

Heaven. This word {ovpavaq) occurs about two hun- 
dred and eighty times in the New Testament only. In ten 
it is translated ' air ' — the fowls of the air— (Luke viii. 5) ; 
in five it is rendered ' sky' (Luke xii. 56) ; in eighty-six it 
is put for the visible firmament (Mark xiii. 25) ; in eighty- 
three it indicates the peculiar residence of God and of the 
Holy Angels (Acts vii. 49) ; in thirty-three it is associated 
with the kingdom of the Redeemer (Matt. iii. 2) ; and in 
the Apocalypse it is commonly put for the world of 
separate spirits, or Hades. It is impossible to understand 
Scripture if these distinctions are not borne in mind. 

Hell (Sheol) invariably stands in the Old Testament, 
either for the grave, or for the invisible world of spirits. 

In the New Testament, several distinct words^ widely 
different in meaning, are alike translated Hell ; a practice 
which necessarily leads to a good deal of confusion in the 
mind of the English reader. Hades is thus always trans- 
lated Hell, although it never means the place of final 
punishment. Gehenna, which probably has that meaning, 
occurs tivelve times. It is not possible here to note the 
distinct meaning in each ease. The attention of an intel^ 
ligent reader should, however, be directed to. this mis- 
leading diversity. 

Mercy is a word which, in most cases, ought to be ren- 
dered favour, since it by no means implies the clemency 
of a judge sparing a criminal, but rather the bestowal of 
kindness. 

Wrath, in like manner, when attributed to God, is 
by most persons connected with Eternal Punishment, 
although without warrant. It simply signifies disjjleasure, 
and is in the Prophets applied to different degrees of 
punishment, whether inflicted or only threatened. Isaiah 
speaks of 'a little wrath' (liv. 8). Jeremiah of 'great 



TECENICAL TERMS. 101 

wrath' (xxxii. 37). In the New Testament it is applied to 
the destruction of Jerusalem (Luke xxi. 22, 23). 

Salvation, although now commonly used by us to 
signify deliverance from Hell, by no means generally, or as 
a rule, bears that interpretation in Scripture. For although 
it be quite true that Christ saves us ' from wrath' (Eom. 
V. 9), it is in a still higher sense true that He delivers us 
from the slavery of sin. A careful examination of pas- 
sages, such as Matt. i. 21 ; Acts iii. 26 ; Eom. i. 16 ; Phil, 
ii. 12 ; Ephes. i. 13 ; v. 23 ; vi. 17, and many others, will 
satisfy a thoughtful person tliat, as a ruU, the word ' Sal- 
vation ' is, in ^Ji)j^ New Testament, associated, not so much 
with any future blessing, as with a present deliverance 
from the bondage of moral evil. 

Sanctification is the last term of this class to which 
we shall refer. It sometimes signiiies separation for holy 
or religious uses (Gen. ii. 3 ; Exod. xiii. 2) ; and sometimes 
the actual cleansing of the soul (1 Cor. vi. 11). It is some- 
times applied to God when His judgments are made known 
(Numb. XX. 13 ; Ezek. xxxvi. 23) ; and sometimes to 
Messiah as the King and Head of the Church (John x. 36). 
But its ordinary meaning is actual 'purification ; whether 
ceremonial, as in the case of the Jews, or moral and spiri- 
tual, as in the case of the Christian (Exod. xix. 10 — 22 ; 
Josh. iii. 5 ; Lev. x. 3 ; 1 Cor. vi 11). 



Zorct of all power and mighty grant us, ive beseech Thee, a 
deep and true insight into Thy glorious Truth; that, justified 
hy grace, and renewed in the spirit of our minds hy the in- 
diuelling of the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, we may he sancti- 
fied for Thy service both here and hereafter, and at length 
enter into the joy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 



'iw*^^^^ ^^^ 






^7£ 






CHAPTEE XX. 

ON THE USE OF ECCLESIASTICAL TEEMS IN SCRIPTURE. 

'* Our little systems have their day, 

They have their day and cease to he ; 

They are hut broken lights of Thee, 

And Thou, Lord, art more than they." 

Tennyson. 

In tlie chapter immediately preceding this we have only 
referred to technical terms which are so in the original, 
and not made such by any particular translation of them. 
We must now notice a class of words which sometimes 
mislead in consequence of their mistranslation. 

The translators of the Bible into the present Authorised 
Version — laborious men, and worthy of all honour, — were 
not altogether free, agents in the work they undertook. 
King James expressly commanded them not to change 
' the old ecclesiastical words ; ' and in their Preface to the 
large Bible they tell us they have regarded the admonition. 
It will be necessary, therefore, to refer to certain instances 
in which it will be seen that adherence to the Eoyal Man- 
date has darkened the sense of the original. 

Easter (Acts xii. 4) : ' Intending after Easter to bring 
him forth to the people.' The word "Easter" {iraaxa) 
should unquestionably have been translated 'Feast' or 
' Passover.' It occurs twenty-nine times, and is so trans- 
lated everywhere else. The text plainly means that Herod 



ECCLESIASTICAL TERMS. 103 

would not bring forth Peter until after Passover, — includ- 
ing the days of unleavened bread (John xviii. 28). 

Bishop (1 Tim. iii. 2 ; Titus i. 7). The word here trans- 
lated ' bishop ' (eTTtcTfcoTToc) should have been rendered ' in- 
spector ' or ' overseer ; ' since it has no special reference to 
what we understand by a diocesan prelate. The phrase 
indicates ' an office ; ' probably in some respects correspond- 
ing to a modern bishopric, but in other respects very 
different. Episkopos is in one instance (Acts xx. 28) 
translated ' overseer/ and it would have been much better 
had it always been so rendered. 

Church (cickXt]^^) is a word which three times stands 
for a mere assembly of persons {e. g., Acts xix. 32 — 40, 
where the word ecclesia is so rendered) ; once for the body 
of the Israelites in the wilderness (Acts vii. 38), where 
Moses is spoken of as he ' that was in the Church in the 
wilderness ;' J^/^66?^ times it indicates a particular society 
of Christians, meeting either in one place or in different 
parts of a town or city {e.g., Acts xi. 22; 1 Cor. xvi. 19). 
Ordinarily (about eighty-five times) it denotes the entire 
body of professing Christians dwelling in any given city or 
district, — in Judea, or among the Gentiles {e. g., Acts ix. 
31; Eom. xvi. 4; 1 Cor. vii. 17). In all these cases the 
Church is regarded as an outward or visible thing. Ten 
times it is used to indicate true and spiritual members, as 
distinguished from the hypocritical or self-deceived {e. g., 
Ephes i. 1 — 3 ; Col. i. 18 — 24) ; and in all these cases it is 
regarded as an invisible society. 

Minister (liaKovoo), This word occurs thirty time^ in 
the New Testament, and is sometimes translated 'minister' 
(Matt. XX. 26); sometimes 'deacon' (1 Tim. iii. 8); and 
sometimes 'servant' (Mark ix. 35). It is the word used to 
indicate the ' servants ' that waited at the marriage feast 



104 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

(John ii. 5 and 9) ; it is applied to magistrates (Eom. xiii. 
4) ; and to womanly service in the case of Phebe of Cen- 
chrea (Eom. xvi. 1). As it is so plain that the word simply 
expresses ' service/ and that it is so used by Paul when 
applied either to apostles or elders (1 Cor. iii. 5 ; 2 Cor. iii. 
6), it certainly is a great pity that it should have come to 
be associated exclusively with preachers of the gospel. 

Deacon (Siaicovoc) falls under the same head. There is 
in the New Testament no office, so called, which corres- 
ponds either to the ' deacon ' of the Episcopal church, or to 
that of the Congregationalists. The word simply means 
' service.' So far as the authority of Scripture is concerned, 
a minister may be called a deacon, or a deacon a minister, 
or a Christian visitor one or both, without any violation of 
its teaching. Martha was a deacon to Christ when cum- 
bered with much serving ; and Paul when he went to 
Jerusalem to minister to the saints (Eom. xv. 25), although 
the money was actually distributed by their own elders 
(Acts xi. 30). 

Among Congregationalists, the office of the deacon is 
generally traced to the transaction recorded in the sixth 
chapter of the Acts, where the Church at Jerusalem, by the 
advice of the apostles, is said to have selected seven men, 
' full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom,' to superintend the 
service of tables, and to silence the murmuriugs of those 
who thought that certain widows ' were neglected in the 
daily ministration.' 

It should, however, be recollected that these persons 
were not chosen to a permanent office, but to meet a 
present necessity ; for the word rendered ' business ' {'xpuci) 
ought to have been translated 'need,' or 'necessity.' It 
occurs forty times in the New Testament, and is so rendered 
everywhere else. 



ECCLESIASTICAL TERMS. 105 

Further, the persons thus selected are nowhere called 
deacons. That no such permanent office existed is ren- 
dered at least probable by the fact that the money raised 
by the disciples at Antioch for .the poor was sent to the 
* elders' at Jerusalem (Acts xi. 30). 

But it will be said, 'Why, then, are deacons, as such, 
required to possess certain moral qualities (1 Tim. iii. 8) ? 
and what is meant by the phrase, 'They that have used 
the office of a deacon well' " (1 Tim. iii. 13) ? 

We reply, — The demand of the apostle for certain moral 
qualifications applies, and is intended to apply, not to any 
office in particular, but to service for the Church, of what- 
ever kind. ' They that have used the office of a deacon 
well,' should be read, 'They that have diaconized, or per- 
formed service (of any kind) well (marg. ministered), pur- 
chase to themselves a good degree.' 

, The office of ' deacon,' as now recognised either in Epis- 
copal or Congregational churches, may be very useful 
. and honourable, as it undoubtedly is, but it can derive no 
authority in either case from Scripture, since the word so 
translated ought simply to have been rendered ' service.' 

Preach. Some may perhaps be startled when told that 
the word ' jjreach ' has no reference whatever to any par- 
ticular mode of telling the glad tidings of salvation ; ,but it 
is nevertheless true. 

■The word evayyeXiZoj literally means to announce glad 
tidings, and simply relates to the first information that is 
given to a person or people on that subject; that is, when 
the subject may properly be called neius. As to the man- 
ner of giving such information, the same word may not 
improperly be used, in whatever way the thing be notified ; 
23ublicly or privately, aloud or in a whisper, to one or to 
many. 



106 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

The Englisli word 'preach' fails to communicate the 
idea given us in the New Testament ; because with us it 
implies ' a public and continued discourse/ which is by no 
means the sense conveyed to us in Scripture. 

In like manner the word icrj/ouo-o-w, used in the Epistle 
to the Eomans (x. 14), ' How shall they hear without a 
preacher ? ' does not mean ' one who pronounces a public 
discourse on sacred subjects,' but simply ' a herald publish- 
ing tidings; his message may be only a single sentence, 
and a very short sentence too ; and though it certainly im- 
plies public notice,, accompanied by warning to do or to 
forbear something, it never denotes either a comment on, or 
explanation of any doctrine, critical observations on, or 
illustrations of any subject, or a chain of reasoning in proof 
of a particular sentiment/ * In short, it never means what 
we understand by preaching. 

The supposition that the gospel is to be promoted only 
or mainly by clergymen or ministers, and by didactic 
teaching, whether in sermons, tracts, or exhortations, public 
or private, is an error which has led, in many cases, to 
forgetfulness of individual responsibility altogether. 

We have probably now said enough to put the reader of 
Scripture on his guard in relation to the use and authority 
of ecclesiastical terms. 

* Prelim. Diss, to Campbell od the Gospels. 



Ood of all grace, whom rightly to know is life eternal; 
grant us so to receive Thy Son Jesus Christ as the Way, the 
Truth, and the Life ; that, following the steps of Thy holy 
Apostles, we may steadfastly walk in the way that leadeth 
to everlasting Uessedness, through the same our Lord and 
Saviour, 




CHAPTEE XXL 

ON THE INFLUENCE OF HYMNS AND OTHER SACRED POETRY 
ON POPULAR INTERPRETATION. 

" Linked with the whisper of the trees, 
When summer eves were fair and still ; 
Set to the music of the breeze, 
Or murmur of the twilight rill ; 

" Linked with some scene of sacred calm, 
Of holy places, holy days ; 
Linked with the prayer, the hymn, the psalm, 
The multitude's glad voice of praise." 

BONAR. 

To say that the Bible is as often interpreted by the hymn- 
book of the dissenter, as it is by the Prayer-book of the 
churchman, is but to state a simple truth. The impres- 
sions which are received from the one, not unfrequiently 
hias the interpretation given to the other. Embodying, as 
popular hymns do, almost every shade of theological senti- 
ment ; forming, in their use, no unimportant part of public 
worship ; committed to memory in early youth ; meditated 
upon in the closet; recited in seasons of joy or sorrow; 
and whispered in the ears of the dying, it is almost impos- 
sible to exaggerate the influence they exercise in the 
formation and support of particular religious views. 
Far be it from us to depreciate sacred song, or even to 



laS TBE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

speak lightly of an agency wliicli has been so greatly bles- 
sed of God both to the conversion and edification of multi- 
tudes. But it may surely be permitted us to suggest, 
that both hymns and psalms (so called) are purely human 
compositions ; that they sometimes pervert, and that they 
commonly exaggerate, Scripture truth ; that a guard should 
always be kept against their becoming authoritative ; and 
that, hov/ever touching or beautiful they may be, care 
should be taken lest, as they steal into the soul, they 
should carry with them some seed of error which, mingling 
with the purest and best affections, may become in time a 
master-thought, which it is next to impossible to eradicate. 

Wesley's hymns come to hundreds of thousands of 
simple minds with a weight fully equal to that of any 
inspired composition; and Watts's are regarded by multi- 
tudes more as second only to Holy Writ. 

From a recent article in the Methodist Magazine, it would 
seem that Wesley's hymns are all but officially recognised 
as summaries of the faith of his followers. The writer 
says : — ' Apart from the utility of the hymn-book as a 
manual of devotion, it has answered another purpose of 
primary importance. It may be regarded as an authenti- 
cated standard of doctrine, by which all the essential points 
of belief are clearly defined. It is common to refer to Mr. 
Wesley's Sermons, and Notes on the New Testament, as 
embodying our distinctive theology. But if I were asked 
by a stranger to refer him to the most popular compendium 
of Wesleyan doctrine, I should refer him to the hymn- 
book. That book contains the belief of the mass of our 
people. Their commentaries and institutes are there. The 
strains which are familiar to every household, these are in 
reahty the creeds and articles of a community. And so, 
while Charles Wesley was composing the strains which 



INFLUENCE OF HYMNS, 109 

were to animate our devotion, he was at the same time 
fixing our doctrinal standards. As long as the hymn-book 
kee^DS its place in our public worship, our households, and 
closets, so long will the purity of our faith be guarded by 
the double defence of the understanding and the affections/ 

And yet it would not be difficult to find, in the produc- 
tions both of Watts and Wesley — ^great and good men as 
they were, — many statements which will not bear examina- 
tion by the light of truth; much that is exaggerated or 
one-sided ; many things, in short, that distinctly bear the 
mark of the particular views, prejudices, and errors of the 
writers. 

Even versions of Scripture are by no means exempt from 
this charge. The psalm, as it stands in the Bible, is often 
very different in character from the psalm as it reads in 
the metrical version. 

Dr. Watts frankly avows that, in accommodating the 
Book of Psalms to Christian worship, he found it necessary 
to divest David and Asaph of every other character than 
that of a psalmist and a saint,, and * to. make them always 
speak the common sense and language of a Christian! 

That the excellent Doctor, to whom the Church is so 
much indebted, intended to accomplish this without ir- 
reverence, we are quite sure ; hut that he always succeeded 
in the attempt we are not so certain. He adds, ' I have 
not been so curious and exact in striving everywhere to 
express the sense and meaning of David, but have rather, 
expressed myself as / may sv/ppose David would have done 
had he lived in the days of Christianity; and by this 
means, perhaps, I have sometimes hit upon the true intent 
of the Spirit of God in these verses farther and clearer than 
David himself could ever discover. In several other places 
I hope my reader will find a natural exposition of many a 



no THE STUDY OF TSB BIBLE. 

dark and doubtful text, and some new beauties and con- 
nections of thought discovered in the Jewish poet, though 
not in the lanouaoe of a Jew/ 

o o 

We do not quote these passages in order to find fault 
with Dr. Watts. He frankly avoivs what he thought it 
right to do, and he plainly tells us that in his Psalms he is 
sometimes interpreting dark and doubtful texts. Our 
object is to show, that by this open admission of one of 
the greatest hymn writers the world has ever seen, these 
compositions ought never to be confounded with the in- 
spired truth they either condense or paraphrase ; that they 
ought never to be used as authoritative expositions of any 
text or portion of Scripture; and, above all, that they 
should never be regarded as partaking, in any degree, of 
the peculiar sanctity which belongs to the Bible. Their 
use in public worship as the most appropriate expression 
of our praise, like the use of liturgies as the channels and 
embodiments of our supplications, all but inevitably leads 
to their being so associated in the mind with the Scrip- 
tures that are read, and the God that is worshipped, that 
they imperceptibly get exalted into a position wliich by no 
means belongs to them. 

We are not among those who imagine that verse is an 
unfit vehicle for religious thought ; or that because poetry 
appeals to the imagination, while religion must be exhibi- 
ted just as it is — suppression and addition equally corrupt- 
ing it, — that therefore it can supply nothing to the mind ; 
for surely it is a noble task 'to celebrate in glorious and 
lofty hymns the throne and equipage of God's almightiness, 
and what He works, and what He suffers to be wrought 
with high Providence in His Chui'ch.' But when we 
remember how greatly this faculty has been abused — how 
' Milton s Paradise Lost ' is commonly read and quoted as 



INFL UENCE OF EYMXS, 1 1 1 

if it were an inspired production, — a true picture of God's 
dealings with the children of men; how Dante's great 
poem has long been both the source and support of all 
those coarse and material conceptions relative to future 
punishment, which at once harden and darken men's 
minds, and dishonour Grod ; how even a modern production, 
such as Pollok's ' Course of Time,' is in hundreds, perhaps 
in thousands, of Scottish households venerated as a true 
exposition of the Divine Word, — we cannot but feel that 
there is some force in Dr. Johnson's saying, that ' religious 
truth is too sacred for fiction, too simple for elocjuence, and 
too majestic for ornament.' 

N'ever should it be forgotten that * all the subjects of 
Divine Eevelation demand of us the most soher and reverent 
investigation; that whenever we meddle with them, we 
should eagerly and singly desire to seek for all Truth ; and 
scrupulously reject and cast to the greatest possible distance 
all error; and that to make the Truth of God the subject 
of fanciful embellishment, however devoutly it may be 
done, must often tend to favour the formation of wrong 
ideas, impressions, and feelings.' 

Let it not, then, be thought needless to lift up, on this 
subject, the voice of warning. For so long as thousands 
are much better acquainted with David's Psalms in metri- 
cal versions, than they are with the Inspired Text ; and 
thousands more build on hymns, hopes and consolations 
which only ought to be built on the Bible ; it can never be 
improper to draw attention to the danger that is involved 
in such a course : or to show how that which, if rightly 
used, is one of the highest sources of delight and spiritual 
profit, may, by abuse, easily become one of the most serious 
impediments to the understanding of Holy Scripture. 



CHAPTEE XXIL 

ON CHUECH AUTHOPwITY AND THE CREEDS. 

" Hear the just law — the judgment of the skies ! 
He that hates Truth shall be the dupe of lies : 
And he that will be cheated, to the last 
Delusions strong as Hell shall hold him fast. 
For men go wrong with an ingenious skill ; 
Bend the straight rule to their own crooked will ; 
And with a clear and shining lamp supplied. 
First put it out, then take it for a guide." 

COWPER. 

As tlie decisions of the Church, relative to doctrine, are 
mainly embodied in ' the Creeds/ the subject of this chap- 
ter necessarily embraces a consideration of the value of 
these compositions regarded as EocfpositioTis of Divine Truth. 

The Bishop of Oxford says, in his recent Sermons,* that 
God has been pleased to give us his Eevelation 'in the 
Volume of Inspiration, and in the Creeds of the Church.' 
He draws no distinction between these two channels, as he 
seems to regard them, of Divine communication. 

Now it is plain that, if the Holy Spirit still illumines 
the Church, — if the Creeds were framed under the influ- 
ence of this semi-inspiration, — if the writings of the Fathers 
are to be put on a level with those of the Apostles, — 

* God's Revelation Man's Probation. 



CHURCH AUTHORITY. U3 

the first duty of the interpreter is to consult these ancient 
authorities, and his highest obligation must be obedience to 
their decisions. 

On this subject Dr. Christopher Wordsworth has very 
recently delivered five Lectures in Westminster Abbey, 
which have since been pul)lished under the title of ' The 
Interpretation of the Bible.' 

Many very excellent remarks occur in these Lectures, 
especially in relation to the temper and spirit in which the 
Bible should be read. 

Expounding the passage, ' Open thou miiie eyes, that I may 
behold wondrous things out of thy lav: ' (Psa. cxix. 18), he 
clearly shows that ' Eeason, as well as the Bible, is a 
precious gift of God ; and that Eeason is to be employed in 
the interpretation of Holy Writ,' if only it be used ' reason- 
ably,' — that is, under the influence of a humble and teach- 
able spirit. ' Vain is it,' he says, * and worse than vain to 
apply learning to the study of Scripture, unless we have 
those moral dispositions and spiritual graces, without which 
our eyes are veiled. All is vain unless the soul and spirit 
are sanctified by the fear of God. He who would under- 
stand the Bible must love the Bible. * The sec7'et of the 
Lord is with them that fear Him ' (Psa. xxv. 14). ' He 
that willeth to do God's will (lav tiq OeXri) shall know of 
the doctrine ' (John viL 17). ' God revealeth His secrets 
unto babes, — those who are like children in simplicity, — 
but He hideth them from the wise and prudent ' (Matt. xi. 
25). ' Mysteries are revealed unto the meek.' ' Them 
that are meek shall He guide in judgment, and such as are 
gentle, them shall He learn His way ' (Psa. xxv. 9). 

Nothing can be better than these opening words. But 
unhappily, as it seems to us, they are practically set aside 
by the subsequent announcement that, in cases of doubt or 

1 



lU THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

difficulty, the authority of the Church alone must decide as 
to what is Truth. 

' Jesus Christ himself/ he adds, ' is the great interpreter 
of the Bible. He does it by the presence and power 
of the Holy Ghost, whom He sent from heaven to abide for 
ever in His mystical body the Church universal, protecting 
Holy Scripture against false interpretations, and declaring 
the true sense in her Creeds and Confessions of Faith! 

ISTow, on the amount of truth or error in this statement 
everything turns. 

It behoves us most carefully to examine it. Dr. "Words- 
worth fully admits that "the living waters of Christ's grace 
flow freely to all; ' but^then, he says, ' it is only in certain 
rivers and channels, viz., in Holy Scripture, in the Holy 
Sacraments, in Prayer, and in Confirmation ; we should 
therefore not presume that his promises will be made good 
to us, unless we comply with the conditions w^hich He has 
.annexed to them.* 

Again we say, — If this teaching be true, it behoves us to 
submit at once; to bow to the authority of the Church, and 
to seek for the Holy Spirit from the Church, through 
Sacraments and Confirmation, but in connection, of course, 
with the study of Scripture and Prayer. If this claim, 
however, cannot be sustained from the Bible, it equally 
behoves us, at whatever risk of wounding or paining dear 
friends, to s^y in plain terms, that such a doctrine is, 

— EOMANISM. 

' Christ,' says Dr. Wordsworth, ^ has given the keys to 
His Church, to whom He has promised His presence and 
His Spirit, and whom He has appointed to he the keeper and 
interpreter of Holy Writ! ' Christ now declares to us the 
true meaning of Holy Scripture in all necessary points of 
Christian doctrine, in her Creeds and Confessions of 
Faith/ 



CHURCH AUTHORITY. 115 

Admitting that the Apostles had special gifts from 
Christ, which the Clergy now do not possess, he still 
insists that * the power of interpreting Holy Scripture was 
continued to after ages.' In support of this assertion he 
brings forward one, and hut one text, on which his entire 
argument hangs ; it is this, — Christ said to His Apostles, 
' Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world ' 
(Matt, xxviii. 20) ; therefore^ — for this is the amount of the 
reasoning, — in spite of all appearances to the contrary ; in 
spite of the absence of any proof which is capable of being 
weighed ; in spite of clerical discords and confusions innu- 
merable ; in spite of past history and of present experience ; 
in spite of eyes, and ears, and senses, this doctrine, like 
that of Transubstantiation, is to be believed as transcend- 
ental ; directly supported, indeed, by the authority only of 
a particular interpretation of a single text, but supposed to 
be implied in all God's dealings with His Church. 

Dr. Wordsworth tests, so to speak, the truth of his views 
by the history of the production of the Creed published at 
Nicaea, a.d. 325, and known amongst us as ' the Mcene 
Creed.' He says, ' We revere that Creed because we know 
it to have been framed by holy men, who had many ad- 
vantages ivhich we do not possess for the right interpretation ' 
of the New Testament, 

This is supposed to have been the case, — 

*" (1) Because the language in which the New Testament 
was written was the native tongue of the authors of the 
Creed. 

* (2) Because they possessed (so it is said) many ancient 
writings penned by Apostolic men, which are not now 
extant, and which served for the elucidation of the New 
Testament. 

* (3) Because abundant spiritual graces were shed upon 
the Church in the age when that Creed was framed. 



116 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

' (4) Because those holy men had contended valiantly 
for the faith in times of persecution; had been in daily 
peril of death ; and had the most urgent motives to examine 
and ascertain the truth. 

' (5) Because they employed the helps of mutual con- 
ference and deliberation ; because they came together from 
various parts of Christendom, and were more than three 
hundred in number. 

* (6) Because they brought with them from their several 
Churches a true report of the doctrines which had been re- 
ceived by those Churches from the holy Apostles ; because 
they prayed devoutly for the Divine illumination of the 
Holy Ghost upon their deliberations ; because they placed 
the Bible before them as the chart and compass of their 
counsels ; and because they agreed in their judgment, and 
delivered that Creed to future generations, and joined with 
one heart and voice in professing it, and declared it to be 
the true sense of Holy Scripture, which the primitive 
Churches of Christendom had received from Jesus Christ.' 

* Yet further,' he adds, ' we receive the Mcene Creed 
because we know that when it had been framed and pro- 
mulgated at such a time, by such persons, and in such a 
manner, it was forthwith accepted by the Church Universal, 
which is the mystical body of Christ.' 

Such is the argument in favour of Church authority in 
the interpretation of Scripture. 



Incline onr hearts^ Lord, we heseech Thee, to receive 
v'itli childlike 'affection the pure milk of the Word ; mid so 
deliver us from the traditions of men, and the delusions of 
Satan, that we rnay not 'be led adtray from the simplicity that 
is in Christ ; hut, ever abiding under the shadow of Thy wing, 
ma.y be kept from all evil, through the merits and mediation 
of J'esus Christ our Lord. 



CHAPTEE XXIII. 

THE COUNCIL OF NICE. 

In reply to ' the case ' on behalf of Nieene teaching, which 
we have endeavoured in the preceding chapter to state 
fairly and fully, we propose, first, to consider the elements of 
which the Council of Mce was composed; and next, to 
endeavour to estimate the result of its labours, so far as its 
conclusions have come down to us. 

For this purpose, we shall avail ourselves of that living 
picture of the assembly which has been furnished by Dr. 
Stanley in his admirable Lectures on the Eastern Church. 

We find there, that while the Council included many 
who had suffered in pagan persecutions, it consisted of 
Arians as well as Orthodox ; ' the learned and the illiterate ; 
courtiers and peasants ; old and young ; aged bishops, on 
the verge of the grave, and beardless deacons, just entering 
on their office.* 

Among the assembled multitude we observe Arius, ' a 
strange, captivating, moon-struck giant,' who in Alexandria 
had 'a following of seven hundred religious ladies;' Atha- 
nasius, the small and insignificant deacon, hardly twenty- 
five years of age, who * rivets the attention of the assembly 
by the vehemence of his arguments ;' Eusebius, * the father 
of ecclesiastical history,' whom Athanasius is convinced i^ 



118 TEE STVDY OF TSE BIBLE. 

at heart an Arian ; ' Egyptian hermits from their cells, — 
half savage, wild, and mangled by the torments they had 
endured ; scholars from the more civilized cities of Syria, 
and wild ascetics from the remoter East.' 

Over this motley assembly presided the Emperor Con- 
stantine, who, on his arrival, found himself literally over- 
whelmed with parchment rolls or letters containing com- 
plaints and petitions against each other, from the larger 
part of the assembled bishops; which, when accusations 
and recriminations were bandied to and fro in the Imperial 
presence, he wisely burnt before them all, declaring that he 
had not even read them. 

The charges, says Dr. Stanley, were, among others, that 
of gross licentiousness. Constantine's observation on them 
was, — ' Never let the faults of men in their consecrated 
offices be publicly known, to the scandal and temptation of 
the multitude. Even though I were, with my own eyes, to 
see a bishop in the act of gross sin, I vv^ould throw my 
purple robe over him, that no one might suffer from the 
sight of such a crime.' 

The Emperor, ' always careful of his appearance, was so 
on this occasion in an eminent degree. His long hair, false 
or real, was crowned with the Imperial diadem of pearls. 
His purple or scarlet robe blazed with precious stones and 
gold embroidery. He was shod, no doubt, in the scarlet 
shaes then confined to the Emperors, now perpetuated in 
the Pope and Cardinals. We may well believe that the 
simple and the worldly both looked upon him, as we are 
told they did, as though he were an angel of God descended 
straight from Heaven.' 

And yet this man — often a preacher to thousands, ' who 
cheered him lustily ' — was a semi-pagan, and subsequently 
the murderer of his son, his nephew, and his wife. 



THE COUNCIL OF NICE. 119 

'Incredible as it may seem to our notions/ says Dr. 
Stanley,, speaking of him at a later period, ' he who had iive- 
and-twenty years ago been convinced of the Christian 
faith : he who had opened the first General Council of the 
Church ; he who had called himself a Bishop of Bishops ; 
he who had joined in the deepest discussions of theology; 
he who had preached to rapt audiences ; he who had estab- 
lished Christianity as the religion of the empire ; he who 
had been considered by Christian bishops an inspired oracle, 
and an apostle of Christian wisdom, was, although now on 
his deathbed, himself not yet received into the Christian 
Church. He was not yet baptized ; he had not even been 
received as a catechumen.' 

Such was Constantine, the president of the Council of 
Nice. What must the Bishops have been who regarded 
this man as ' an inspired oracle, and an apostle of Christian 
wisdom ' ? And yet this is the Council which Dr. Words- 
worth tells us specially enjoyed the presence of Christ; 
through which 'He declares to us the true sense of the 
Bible with regard to the fundamental articles of the 
Christian faith,' and by whose decisions 'the most un- 
lettered peasant is able to discriminate truth from false- 
hood!' 

Let us next see what the decisions of the Council, as 
embodied in the Creed, really amount to. 

" Por this purpose we cannot do better than compare ' the 
Nicene Creed,' as it stands in the Communion Service, 
with that which is known under the title of ' the Apostles 
Creed,' as found in the service of the Morning Prayer, 
and see precisely what we have gained. 

The result is embodied in these words relating to the 
Lord Jesus, — ' Begotten of His Father hefore all worlds, God 
of God, Light of Light, Very God of very God, Begotten, not 



120 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

made. Being of one stchstance with the Father, By whom all 
things loere made,' 

And now we would seriously ask any thoughtful and 
pious person to estimate the value of these words, and then 
to say honestly and truthfully whether he can find any- 
thing in them that helps him to understand — as Dr. Words- 
worth says they do — 'the true sense of the Bible with 
regard to the fundamental articles of the Christian Faith'? 
whether he can discover anything in them which will 
* enable every man, yes, even the simplest child and most 
unlettered peasant, to discriminate truth from falsehood, 
and to understand the Bible aright in those heavenly doc- 
trines which are necessary to everlasting salvation ' ? 

We profess an utter inability to do this. To us, the 
words in question appear to be little better than an 
attempt to be ivise above that which is written ; to explain 
truths which are above reason, and, therefore, inexplicable 
by mortal faculties ; and to attach an importance to modes 
of thought and expression, which, in Scripture, belongs only 
to a heartfelt reception of the Divine Testimony. 

Nothing can be plainer than that the men who thought 
and wrote in these scholastic terms, had lost the simplicity 
of the Gospel ; that there was presumption in their decis- 
ions ; and that nothing could justify them in pronouncing 
the Son to be ' of one substance with the Father,' or pre- 
tending to distinguish between the Son as * begotten,' and 
the Holy Ghost as ' proceeding.' We should not like to 
say how near so irreverent a procedure approached to 
blasphemy. 

It may not be amiss to inquire further, ' What was the 
effect of these transactions, at the time, on the Christian 
community at large ?' 

Dr. Stanley shall tell us. 



TEE COUNCIL OF NICE. 121 

* When we perceive/ he says, ' the abstract questions on 
which the controversy in the Council turned; when we 
reflect that they related not to any dealings of the Deity 
with man ; not even, properly speaking, to the Divinity or 
Humanity of Christ, nor to the doctrine of the Trinity (for 
all these points were acknowledged by both parties), but to 
the ineffable relations of the Godhead before the remotest 
beginnings of time, it is difficult to conceive that, by in- 
quiries such as these, the passions of mankind should be 
rouLsed to fury, 

' Yet so it was. So violent were the discussions that 
they were parodied in the pagan theatres. Sailors, miUers, 
and travellers sang the disputed doctrines at their occupa- 
tions, or on their journeys. Every corner, every alley of 
the cities of Alexandria and Constantinople was full of 
these discussions, — the streets, the market places, the 
drapers', the money changers', the victuallers'. Ask a man 
'How many oboli?' he answers by dogmatizing on gene- 
rated and ungenerated being. Inquire the price of bread, 
and you are told, ' The Son is subordinate to the father.^ 
Ask if the bath is ready, and you are told, ' The Son arose 
out of nothing.' 

Is it possible to conceive of a state of things, — corrupt 
and immoral as society then was, — more lamentable ? Yet 
this is the age to which we are told to look back with affec- 
tion as pre-eminently Christian; the age on which Dr. 
Wordsworth tells us ' abundant spiritual graces were shed.' 

The supposition lying at the root of all these notions 
about the light and piety of the Nicene age is, that the 
Holy Spirit enlightens men apart from purifying them ; that 
there is a grace of the Spirit not mentioned by St. Paul, 
which, as St. Basil says, ' plays through the intellectual 
faculties;' that by this grace, which is supposed to be 



122 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE, 

official in character, Truth is discerned ; that although still 
ours, it was pre-eminently enjoyed by the Fathers; and 
that, consequently, an assembly of clergy was then, and is 
still, the best channel for arriving at Christian Truth. 

That is the theor}^ This particular Council becomes the 
illustration, not merely because the eminent divine to 
whom we have referred stakes^ so to speak, the value of 
Church authority upon its decisions ; but because the Pro- 
fessor of Ecclesiastical History in the University of Oxford 
has so recently furnished us with a true picture of its com- 
position and character. 

On a review of the whole, we afi&rm that the Mcene 
Fathers, instead of having more, had not half the advan- 
tages w^e possess for interpreting Scripture aright ; that the 
mere fact of their having spoken Greek is, by every scholar, 
regarded as a matter of very little moment indeed ; that 
there is not the slightest evidence that they had access to 
any ancient writings by Apostolic men which we do not pos- 
sess ; that instead of ' abundant spiritual grace ' being shed 
upon the Church in the Mcene age, it was a period dis- 
tinguished by darkness, ignorance, and superstition ; that 
the mere fact of many of the bishops there present having 
suffered persecution, is no reason for supposing that they 
had more urs^ent motives to examine and ascertain the 
truth than we have ; that the circumstance of three hun- 
dred men assembling, bearing with them the vague tra- 
ditions of their respective neighbourhoods, is no proof what- 
ever that they knew more than we do about what was 
believed in the Apostolic Churches ; that prayer for Divine 
illumination, offered as it was under the delusion that 
Christ was with the clergy officially, must be regarded in 
precisely the same light as the prayer which is now offered 
in Eome day by day, by the Pope and Cardinals, for the. 



THE COUNCIL OF NICE, 123 

preservation of the Papacy ; and finally, that the acceptance 
of the Creed by future ages, enforced as such acceptance has 
always been by secular power, and the offer of worldly 
advantage, has nothing whatever to do either with its truth 
or falsehood, its wisdom or its folly. 

The lesson we have to learn is, that no man can honestly 
and candidly read his Bible who allows himself to be in- 
fluenced, in his judgment of its teaching, by the decisions 
of priests and monks who happen to have lived twelve or 
fifteen hundred years ago ; and who, whatever piety they 
might possess, were unquestionably, and as a rule, under 
the influence of dark and bewildering superstitions * 

* These yery Nicene Fathers proposed (with a view, as it is said, to the 
reformation of manners) that a rule should be established requiring all 
bishops, priests, deacons, and sub-deacons, who had married before their 
ordination, to withdraw from their wives; a law which was very near being 
carried. — Taijlor's " Ancient Christianity.*' 




CHAPTEE XXIV. 

GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 

Leaving Dr. Wordsworth, the Council of Nice, and the 
particular text on which Church authority is ordinarily- 
based, let us now inquire whether there are indications in 
any part of Scripture that it ever was the design of God 
that divine teaching should be subjected to professional 
interpretation; or that it ever was the duty of a simple- 
minded follower of truth, — Jew or Gentile, — to rely on the 
expositions of either Priest or Levite, Eabbi or Scribe ? 

That, under the Jewish economy, the Priests were com- 
manded to 'teach the children of Israel all the statutes 
which the Lord had spoken unto them by the hand of 
Moses,' is clear (Lev. x. 11); that these ministers held a 
Divine Commission, and were descended in unbroken suc- 
cession from the first High Priest, appointed by God him- 
self, is certain ; that they had, through Moses, a promise 
almost identical in terms with that given to the Apostles 
by the Saviour, cannot be disputed, — ' The Lord thy God, 
He it is that doth go with thee ; He will not fail thee, nor 
forsake thee ' (Deut. xxxi. 6) ; — a promise repeated by the 
Prophets as stretching onwards through aU their history 
(Isa. xli. 10, 11), and appropriated in each succeeding 
generation by the men who sat in ' Moses' seat.' 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 125 

The question is, — Did all these advantages combined, 
viz., a Divinely appointed priesthood, — a command to 
teach, — an unbroken succession, — and an everliving 
promise — justify on the part of the Jewish hierarchy 
a claim to interpret Old Testament Scripture, or warrant 
a simple-minded Israelite in casting the responsibility 
of deciding betwixt truth and error upon his religious 
guides ? 

Let the history of that people answer. So far as they 
did follow these professional instructions, they were, as a 
rule, misled and deceived. So far as they abandoned 
their guidance, and listened to the voice of the irregular 
teachers raised up by God from amidst the laity, they 
prospered. 

What precise lesson is intended to be taught by the fact, 
that * under the ancient Theocracy, and again throughout 
the' whole period of the Hebrew Monarchy, the most 
noted of those *holy men of old, by whom God spake 
unto the Fathers,' — Isaiah, Jonah, Amos, Joel, Hosea, 
Nahum, Micah, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Obadiah, Haggai, 
Zechariah, Daniel, and Nehemiah, were neither Priests 
nor of priestly families, we do not profess to know ; but 
the fact that the men chosen of God to be the inspired 
teachers of the people were, for the most part, altogether 
independent of the Hierarchy, is surely proof positive that 
the interpretation of Scripture was not intrusted to the 
Priesthood. 

It may be said, that the Levites were specially appointed 
to ' teach Jacob the judgments, and Israel the Law ' of God 
(Deut. xxxiii. 10) ; that for this purpose, lest their minds 
should be distracted with worldly cares, no portion of the 
Land of Canaan was allotted to them; and that they 
sometimes took up their residences in the houses of the 



126 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

rich, and acted both as Priests and instructors of the 
children (Judg. xvii. 9). 

This is quite true. But then it must be borne in mind 
that this teaching referred chiefly, if not entirely, to cere- 
monial observances, in relation to which the Levite was an 
absolute authority. On this point the word of God is ex- 
plicit : * Take heed in the plague of leprosy, that thou 
observe diligently, and do according to all that the Priests 
the Levites shall teach you : as I commanded them, so ye 
shall observe to do ' (Deut. xxiv. 8). 

The work of the Levite, as expounded in Scripture, was 
threefold; it consisted in explaining the Ceremonial Law 
in doubtful cas3s, — -in solving difficulties which might 
occur in dealings between man and man, — and in deciding 
controversies (disputes) among the people (2 Chron. xix. 8). 
There is nothing whatever to show that either Priest or 
Levite had the slightest authority to interpret Prophecy, or 
to decide upon the teachings of Moses, so far as these 
related to things moral and spiritual. 

The rise, at a later period, of Eabbis or Doctors, and the 
worship of the Synagogue, does not at all interfere with 
this conclusion. On the contrary, the ' vain traditions ' of 
the former, — so strongly denounced by our Lord, — and 
the freedom of exposition which prevailed in the latter 
(Matt. iv. 23; Luke iv. 16—20; Acts xiii. 14—16), indi- 
cate that it was the duty, as it was also the privilege, of the 
Israelite to judge for himself as to the meaning of the 
written Word. 

That there was among the Jews a strong party who clave 
to Church Authority and Traditional teaching, is unques- 
tionable. Paul, before his conversion, was one of this class. 
He was a devout man, and an earnest believer in the Old 
Testament Scriptures ; but he read them only by the light 



GENERAL PRINCIPLES. 127 

of the Church of his fathers, and he acted only in harmony 
with the^ instructions of its ministers (Acts xxii. 3 — 5). 
The result we know. Under the delusion that he was 
doing right in being thus guided by the Priests, he was led 
to engage in a work, the thought of which filled him, to the 
day of his death, with remorse and shame.* 

Wherein was his error ? It lay undoubtedly in trans- 
ferring to others a responsibility which could in reality 
belong only to himself. His mind was prejudiced. He 
was, in relation to Christianity, uncandid, and unfair. 
There were some things about the religion of Jesus which 
he disliked, and so he would listen to no argument in its 
favour. He thought that, instead of maintaining the per- 
petuity of the Law, Christianity dishonoured it. Had he 
examined more closely, he would have seen that his pre- 
judices were unfounded, and that Christ, instead of degrad- 
ing Judaism, was its perfection and its end, 'witnessed 
to both by the Law and the Prophets ' (Eom. iii. 21). 

But why should he trust himself in any such investiga- 
tion, when he had the anointed Priests of God, — the true 
interpreters of Scripture, — on his side ? 

So he argued ; and so he erred. 

Before his conversion he leaned implicitly on his spi- 
ritual advisers ; after that great change, he -recognised the 
higher duty of comparing their injunctions with the 
revealed will of God. 

And what he did we are taught to do. 

* These ' (the Bereans) ' were more noble than those in 
Thessalonica, in that they received the Word with all 
readiness of mind, and searched the Scriptures daily, 
whether those things were so' (Acts xvii. 11). 

'Prove all things; hold fast that which is good' 
(1 Thess. V. 21). 



• CHAPTEE XXV. 

ON SHADOWS OF THE PAST, AS AFFECTING THE 
INTEEPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE. 

** A glory gilds tlie sacred page, 
Majestic like the sun ; 
It gives a light to every age, 
It gives, but borrows nonej'^ 

COWPER. 

We have already drawn attention to the importance of re- 
garding, in connection with our interpretations of Scripture, 
the circumstances under which the words contained in any- 
given passage were uttered ; the persons to whom they were 
addressed ; and the impression they were intended to leave 
on those who first heard or read them. We have also 
referred to various perversions of Scripture which, at 
different periods, have found, and still find, an imaginary 
support, through the unauthorized projection into the 
present,, of texts which exclusively belong to the past. 

We propose now, briefly to refer, — and chiefly by way 
of example, — to some of the forms in which the shadows of 
departed ages still fall over us, and in doing so, bias our 
interpretation of the Word of God. 

T\iQ first we shall notice occurs in the Ordination Service 
of the Church of England, in which the Bishop, laying 



SHADOWS OF TEE FAST, 129 

hands on the candidate for the ministry, thus addresses 
him, — ' Eeceive the Holy Ghost for the office and work of 
a Priest in the Church of God, now committed unto thee 
by the imposition of our hands/ 

The introductory words are those of our Lord when, meet- 
ing His Apostles after His resurrection, He breathed on 
them, and said, 'Eeceive ye the Holy Ghost' (John xx. 22.) 

The interpi^etation — implied, though not expressed — is, 
that these words were, so to speak, the formula by which 
Christ constituted the Twelve to be the founders of His 
Church; and that therefore they are, to say the least, 
appropriate words in which to set apart its ministers. 

Dr. Archer Butler, one of the ablest advocates of Churcli 
principles, regards the ' breathing ' of the Lord, which ac- 
companied the words when first uttered, as ' imparting ' to 
the Apostles ' a new life ; ' and we presume, therefore, that 
Churchmen hold that the same declaration, — when made 
in what they regard as God's appointed order, and by those 
to whom He has given authority to ordain, — warrants the 
expectation that, in connection with the prayers by which 
it is accompanied, and the faith supposed to be exercised, 
a ' breathing ' from on high of spiritual blessing may de- 
scend upon the Presbyter, and qualify him for the work he 
has to do. 

We admit that this interpretation is sanctioned by the 
traditions of at least eight centuries ; but we cannot there- 
fore allow that it is worthy of acceptation. There is not a 
shadow of evidence for the assertion that the blessing com- 
municated to the Apostles at the time referred to was a 
spiritual one. The unquestionable fact, that after this 
they continued in Jewish darkness, and that it was not 
until Pentecost that they became qualified for the service 
they had to undertake, alone dispwes any such supposi- 

K 



130 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE, 

tion. It is equally plain that the gift then bestowed was 
of another character, viz., the power of ' remitting or re- 
taining' those special inflictions on account of sin, and 
so of the sin itself, which throughout their career they so 
largely exercised (Acts v. 1 — 11; xiii. 11; 1 Cor. iv. 21; 
V. 3—5). 

The interpretation implied in the Ordination Service is 
but a shadow of the past. 

We are quite aware that many Church writers affirm 
that the words in question, as uttered by the Bishop, are 
not a declaration, but a prayer. Mr. Gell, on the contrary, 
and those who with him advocate Liturgical Eevision, 
insist, and, as we think, have demonstrated, that the words 
must be understood in the sense of actually imparting the 
Divine gift, and not as a prayer that it may be received. 
With this controversy, however, as belonging only to 
Churchmen, we have here nothing to do. 

The second instance we shall take from the ' Communion 
Service/ or rather from the ' Exhortation ' directed to be 
read by the minis^ter at the time of celebration. In that 
address the people are warned against receiving the Supper 
of the Lord unworthily in these words,—* For then we 
kindle God's wrath against us ; we provoke him to plague 
us with divers diseases, and sundry kinds of death/ 

The text here, by implication, interpreted as having a 
literal bearing upon ourselves, is obviously that which is 
found in the First Epistle to the Corinthians (xi. 30), where 
the Apostle says, 'For this cause' {i.e.., on account of the 
gross abuses then connected with the administration of the 
Lord's Supper) /many are weak and sickly among you, and 
many sleep/ 

But will any one deny that the passage (taken literally, 
and as implying the actual infliction of l>odily disease) 



SHADOWS OF THE PAST, 131 

belongs exclusively to that Apostolic and miraculous Church 
discipline which, in all human probability, ceased when 
the last man died on whom the last of the Apostles (John) 
had laid hands ? He can hardly do so, in face of the 
revealed fact that persons who had received power from the 
Apostles to work miracles, could not transmit the gift to 
others. The experience of Philip at Samaria (Acts viii. 
14 — 17) seems to demonstrate this. 

Here, then, seems to be drawn the line where miracle 
ceases ; and therefore the line which separates inspired, or 
semi-i7ispired teaching from that of ordinary men. 

For ourselves, we should attach much weight to any 
teaching which could be authenticated as that of a man on 
whom St. John had laid hands, and we should be prepared 
to listen respectfully to any evidence that might be offered 
in favour of a supposed miracle, if wrought during the first 
half of the Second Century. But beyond that time v/e 
should turn a deaf ear to all such pretensions. 

In relation to the text now under notice, we would 
simply ask any clergyman, High or Low, whether, in his 
heart of hearts, he reaUy believes that an unworthy taking 
of the Lord's Supper is likely to involve the sudden disease 
or premature death of the sinning communicant ? Probably 
no one would be prepared to answer in the affirmative. 
Why, then, are the words retained ? Simply because they 
conie to us as a tradition of centuries, — a sacred shadow of 
the past. 

Our third example shall be taken from a volume 
entitled * Subordinate Standards and other Authoritative 
Documents of the Free Church of Scotland/ published by 
authority of the General Assembly in 1851. 

Here, extraordinary as it may seem, we find a Noncon- 
formist community, differing in no respect whatever in its 



132 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE, 

origin from otlier Nonconformist bodies, — a community- 
regarded by the Churcli of England as no Church at all, — 
its ' orders irregular, its mission the offspring of division, 
and its Church system, if not schism, at least dichostasy ' 
(seditious, — literally, standing apart, — Gal. v. 20), abso- 
lutely asserting that to it (i. e., to its Church ofl&cers) ' the 
keys of the kingdom of heaven are committed ; by virtue 
whereof they have power respectively to remit and retain 
sins, to shut that kingdom against the impenitent, both by 
the Word and censures, and to open it unto penitent sin- 
ners by the ministry of the Gospel, and by absolution from 
censures, as occasion shall require/ * 

We natu.rally ask, ' On what text is this claim founded ? ' 
And again the reply is, ' On the words uttered by the Lord 
to His Apostles after His resurrection, — ' Whose soever 
sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; and whose 
soever sins ye retain, they are retained' (John xx. 23). 

The interiyretation — implied, though not expressed — is, 
that the words in question communicated, not to the 
Apostles only, but to the ministers of the Gospel through 
all time, the power of including or excluding men from the 
visible Church. 

But is this the fact ? 

We should seriously question whether any man — minis- 
ter or layman — can be found who would deliberately 
answer, Yes ! Yet there the claim stands, * to be enforced 
by the Church like her other laws,' simply because it em- 
bodies a tradition of centuries, and is an honoured shadow 
of the past. 

Further, and perhaps more striking examples still, of the 
influence of these shadows may be found in the ' Form of 
Church Government' and 'Directory' of the same body. 

* Confession of Faitli, chap. xxx. 



SHADOWS OF THE PAST, 133 

In these it is asserted that a blessing is especially pro- 
mised ' to the prayers of a minister for the sick ; ' that it 
is his privilege ' to read the Scriptures in public/ because 
the Priests and Levites in the Jewish Church did so (Deut. 
xxxi. 9) ; that it is Ms ' to bless the people from God ; 
(Isa. Ixvi. 21), because 'by Priests and Levites' (under the 
law) 'are meant' (under the Gospel) 'Evangelical Pastors;' 
that ' the charge and office of interpreting the Holy Scrip- 
tures is a part of the ministerial calling which none, hota- 
ever otheriuise qualified, should take upon him in any place, 
but he that is duly called thereunto by God and His Kirk; 
and finally, that at family worship, the reader of Scripture 
to the household should be ' approved by the minister and 
Session,' — that no person (except the head of the house- 
hold) should be suffered, without such approval, to perform 
worship in families, — and that special care should be 
taken that each family keep by themselves, not admitting 
strangers. The reason given (among others) is that such 
meetings tend ' to the prejudice of the public ministry.' * 

The interpretations of Scripture involved in these as- 
sumptions are so extraordinary, that if the claims founded 
thereupon did not stand on record in ' Authorized Docu- 
ments,' it would be impossible to believe that they could 
have been formally re-asserted by a seceding body, aban- 
doning church and manse alike, in order to render what they 
regarded as a needful testimony in favour of the sole head- 
ship of Christ in His Church. 

We could easily multiply our instances ; for as an emi- 
nent Dissenter, who has candour enough to judge justly 
and courage to say what he thinks, has expressed it, — 
* With all their professions, and in spite of their repudia- 
tion of human authority, there are among the sects 

* Form of Church Govemment, p. 387. Directory, p. 409. 



134 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

modes of legally uniting income and office to questionable 
opinions, which are not without results on the mental up- 
rightness, the freedom, happiness, and self-respect of (other) 
Nonconformists' — than the particular body to which we 
have referred. 

But we refrain. Every step is an offence. Men hear 
with something like satisfaction of 'a mote' in their 
brother's eye ; but they become for ever alienated from the 
man who dares to hint at the possibility of ' a beam ' 
being in their own eye. 

Yet is the duty of pointing out such hindrances in the 
study of Scripture not altogether to be neglected. For 
anger, in a Christian breast, is shortlived, and will soon 
pass away ; but Truth is eternal. We speak, therefore, in 
the hope that in some thoughtful hour, better feelings will 
prevail ; and then it may, perhaps, be both discovered and 
acknowledged, that, more or less, the shadows of the past 
fiing themselves across all of us. And although we may 
each fondly imagine that, in our own case, they fall but 
slightly or partially, it is well to remember that ' a very 
small object, close to the eye, will darken the earth, and hide 
the sun.' 



Almighty and ever living God, pitifully look upon our in- 
firmities, we beseech Thee; and so deliver us from all dark- 
ness of mind, formality, and superstition, that, discerning 
clearly the true meaning of Thy Holy Word, we may, with 
all fidelity of heart, cleave thm^eto, through Jesus Christ our 
Lord. 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

ON PRIVATE JUDGMENT IN THE INTERPRETATION 
OF SCRIPTURE. 



" Come lowly : He wiU help thee. Lay aside 
That subtle, first of evils — human pride. 
Fear nought but sin ; love all but sin ; and learn 
How that in all things else, thou may'st discern 
His forming, His creating power — how bind 
Earth, self, and brother to th' Eternal mind." 

Dana. 

Private judgment, properly understood, simply means 
Personal Eesponsibility. 

In the exercise of this responsibility, a man may, if he 
think fit, accept, with or without question, the decisions of 
Eome,— the conclusions of the Fathers, — the dogmas of 
the Puritans, — the speculations of Eationalists, or the cur- 
rent opinions which belong to the religious circle in which 
he has been educated, or may, at any given time, happen to 
move. But, in each and every case, his conduct is an act 
of private judgment, for the wisdom or folly of which, wdth 
all its attendant consequences, he is alone and individually 
answerable. 

Private judgment, thus viewed, implies a twofold obliga- 
tion ; viz., first, that of a patient and diligent use of all the 
means placed within our reach for ascertaining Truth; 



136 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE 

and secondly, the cultivation of those dispositions of heart 
which are favourable to spiritual discernment, and apart 
from which no man can rightly discriminate between 
Truth and Error. 

The f oilier will include in the case of those who have 
an opportunity to investigate, a thankful appreciation of 
the labours of scholars, in relation both to the text and to 
the translation of Holy Scripture ; and an examination of 
the Commentaries of pious and learned men, so far as they 
may seem to us to be truthful and unprejudiced expo- 
sitions of Holy Writ : the latter, as graces of the Spirit, 
must be sought, where alone they can be obtained, at the 
footstool of Him who is the giver of every good and perfect 
gift. 

To these we would add, a reverent listening to that voice 
of the Church which expresses itself in the lives and 
labours of holy men in all ages ; a voice, which is not the 
voice of the Priest, or the voice of a party, or the voice of 
the schoolmen, or the voice of the Fathers, whether Greek 
or Latin, or the voice of England or Scotland, — Evangelical 
or Arminian, high or low, broad or exclusive ; but that great 
silent testimony which issues, through all time, from Apostles 
and Prophets, from Martyrs and Confessors, from poor and 
rich, from the palace and the peasant's cot, from the ignorant 
and the learned, from the living and the dead ; — witnessing 
evermore to the truth of Christ's holy Gospel, — to its influ- 
ence over mankind, — to its triumphs over the world, — to 
its sole and exclusive power to enlighten, to solace, to 
sustain and to save. Wretched indeed is the sophistry 
which would confound this sublime echo of the human 
heart responding to the Divine, with the decisions of a 
Council, or the dicta of a sect. 

Besearch, properly speaking, is an obligation which can 



ON PRIVATE JUDGMENT. 137 

rest only on the few ; but the cultivation of candour, charity, 
humility, truthfulness, and dependence , — whatever, in 
short, brings us into that moral sympathy with God and 
goodness which is essential to the recognition of excellence, 
whether in Scripture or in life, is the duty of every child of 
Adam. That moral qualities alone are fully adequate to 
the discernment of Truth in Eeligion is evident from the 
words of St. John, who, writing to persons who were un- 
learned, says, — * Little children, there are many Antichrists, 
— many deceivers are entered into the world. Believe not 
every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God. 
Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all 
things. The anointing which ye have received abideth in 
you ; and ye need not that any man teach you ' (1 John ii. 
18,20,27; iv. 1; 2 John ver. 7). 

The force and truthfulness of these words of the aged 
Apostle have been verified in all ages. Up to the present 
hour, the noblest examples of simple faith and piety are to 
be found, not among the learned, but among the poor and 
the suffering ; among Negro slaves ; in peasant's huts ; in 
spots where controversy never comes ; and among persons 
to whom if it reached them, it would be but as the jargon 
of an unknown tongue. 

The question, whether this believing ' with the heart unto 
righteousness,' as St. Paul terms it (Eom. x. 9, 10), be 
'Faith,' or not, is the turning-point of dispute between 
those who attach a high importance to Creeds, and those who 
do not. The difference may not always be openly avowed ; 
but it invariably affects the reasoning on either side. 

Dr. Manning, in his recent lectures ' On the Grounds of 
Faith,' puts the matter more distinctly perhaps, but scarcely 
more decidedly, than he would have done when an Arch- 
deacon in the English Church. ' Faith,' says he, ' implies 



138 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

knowledge ; and all knowledge, worthy of the name, must 
be definite. The faith we confess in our Creed must be 
understood, both in its substance and in its letter, — the 
explicit and the implicit meaning, article by article, — and 
it must be eoffpressed in terms as definite, severe, and pre- 
cise, as any problem in Science/ 

Further, he adds, ' Knowledge must also be certain. It 
must not only be true ; it must be Truth with its evidence, 
illuminating the intelligence ; or, in other words, the intel- 
ligence possessed by Truth with its evidence/ 

^This kind of certainty,' he says, and truly enough, 
cannot be attained by the ignorant, since they are unable 
to pursue the trains of thought needful to arrive at it ; 
nor can it be attained by the learned, since, apart from the 
authority of the Church, it is absolutely unattainable/ 
Hence, he argues, 'the Pope, as the representative of Christ, 
is the sole arbiter of Truth;' he that heareth the Pope 
heareth Christ, and he that despises the Pope despises 
Christ. 

Our reply to all this is, that ' the Faith ' he describes, is 
not the Faith of the New Testament ; that as such a belief 
can have little or nothing to do with the state of the heart, 
no man can be the better for it ; and that since it is only 
to be exercised by subjection to another mind, it is but a 
shifting of all responsibility in relation to Truth, from the 
individual sinner to the supposed infallible Church. It 
therefore destroys alike, personality and probation. 

Dr. Manning adds, as an unanswerable argument in 
favour of Eomanism, — The Catholic Faith makes people 
happy. 

We shall not dispute the assertion. Human nature craves 
for infallibility in religious matters, and it is a happiness, 
we doubt not, even to think that we have secured it. 



ON PRIVATE JUDGMENT. 139 

This craving, Dr. Whately has truly observed, is the 
fruitful source both of superstition and Atheism ; but it is 
incessant in some minds. God has, however, not chosen 
to gratify it. And because He has not, — because He has 
thought fit to make our apprehension of Divine Truth to 
depend mainly on a right state of hearty — men of all classes 
quarrel with His method. 

The mode in which this dissatisfaction manifests itself 
is various. Sometimes it is in the way of restlessness, and 
sometimes of mistrust. Sometimes it finds expression in a 
feckless scepticism, followed by a predisposition to listen 
to any Church which professes to be infallible ; and some- 
times it carefully bars the door against all inquiry, and 
refuses, under any pretext, to be disturbed. 

Hence the timidity and terror which is so often manifested 
when any new form of religious thought is first broached 
in Christian circles. That which is stated may indeed be 
true, but whether it is so or not, matters little. It seems 
to introduce an element of uncertainty in quarters where 
neither doubt nor question has ever been allowed to enter, 
and therefore it must be disallowed. 

To all such, we can only say, that for intelligent men 
to shrink from the investigation of Truth of any kind, how- 
ever specious may be the pretext, is, in fact, to evade the 
most important part of their moral discipline; that he 
who desires Truth as the supreme good cannot fail even- 
tually to enjoy the blessedness it brings in its train; and 
that he who subordinates Truth to what he calls Peace, 
may haply, in the end, lose both Truth and Peace. 



'CHAPTEE XXVII. 

ON THE STUDY OF UNFULFILLED PROPHECY, AS CONNECTED 
WITH THE INTERPRETATION OF SCRIPTURE GENERALLY. 

** The Churcli lias waited long 
Her absent Lord to see ; 
And stiU in loneliness she waits, 

A friendless stranger she. 
Age after age has gone, 
Sun after sun has set, 
And still in weeds of widowhood 
She weeps a mourner yet. 

Come, then. Lord Jesus, come ! " 

Dr. Horace Bonar. 

In an admirable essay 'On the Nature and Object of 
EeA^elation,' the late learned Dr. S. E. Maitland thus ex- 
presses himself: — 

' I was going to say,' he remarks, — ' Let us thankfully 
take the Word of God, and ransack its stores, — ^let us 
search it as for hid treasure, and bend every power to find 
and seize on all that God has condescended to reveal.' 

' But what a question meets us at the very outset ! I 
see that I must come to it, and, therefore, I may as well 
state it at first ; ' Have I any business to meddle with 
those parts of the Word of God which relate to the future ? 
or, in other words, which consist of unfulfilled prophecy ? ' 



UNFULFILLED PROPHECY. 141 

Strange as it may seem, this question has been agitated in 
the Christian Church, and a great majority seem to have 
decided it in the negative/ 

But here it seems necessaiy to state distinctly, what is 
included under the term ' unfulfilled prophecy/ 
V Under that designation, then, may be placed, — 

First. Those portions of the writings of the older Pro- 
phets which, although forming part of the inspired messages 
which were at different periods delivered to the people of 
Israel by Isaiah, Ezekiel, and others, clearly stretch far 
beyond the time when they were uttered ; which obviously 
refer to events much further in the future than the return, 
from the Babylonish Captivity ; and which are ordinarily 
supposed to relate to the times of Messiah. 

Secondly. Such incidental predictions relative to the 
Second Advent lof Christ, or to the appearance of a ' Man 
of Sin,' or * Mystery of Iniquity/ as are found in the 
Gospels and Epistles. 

Thirdly. The Apocalypse of St. John. 

The first of these, — for the most part relating to Israel, 
— are ordinarily spiritualized, perhaps we should say 
volatilized, — by being applied, although in the most vague 
and general terms, to the Christian Dispensation ; which, 
it is supposed by such interpreters, will terminate with the 
conversion of the world to the Eedeemer, and, in so doing, 
fulfil the class of prophecies which speak of the lion lying 
down with the lamb, and of the knowledge of the Lord 
covering the earth ' as the waters cover the sea.' 

The second, so far as they relate to the coming of Christ, 
are mostly supposed to find their fulfilment in the death 
of the Christian, which is regarded as the coming of the 
Lord to him ; while those which refer to the Man of Sin 
are generally applied to the Church of Eome. 



142 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

The third — the Apocalypse — is commonly abandoned 
as unintelligible ; admitted, indeed, to be Divinely inspired ; 
admired for its wondrous beauty ; Icxved and honoured as a 
repository of texts capable of varied application ; but utterly 
disregarded as a prophetic record of events destined to take 
place during the eighteen hundred or two thousand years 
which are to elapse between the first and second advent of 
the Lord. 

The common excuse for this general neglect of later pro- 
phecy, and especially of the Apocalypse, is threefold : first , 
the supposed impossibility of attaining to anything like a 
satisfactory assurance as to its meaning ; secondly, the con- 
fusion incident to schemes of interpretation which, pro- 
ceeding on no recognised principle, only contradict and 
neutralize each other; and thirdly, a prevailing opinion 
that prophecy was never intended to be understood hefore 
its fulfilment ; that consequently such investigations, if not 
forbidden, are at least idle ; and that the tendency of pro- 
phetic study is to divert the mind from that which is more 
practical, and, perhaps, more spiritual. 

We are far from denying that some reason has been given 
for these unhappy conclusions ; for too many ill-disciplined 
and imaginative persons have violated all propriety in their 
treatment of the Apocalypse ; clever, but vain men, have 
sought and found notoriety in ministering, through its 
pages, to that morbid desire to read the future which so 
frequently afflicts mankind; and commentators, learned 
and ignorant alike, have in this, as in too many other 
instances, increased rather than lessened difficulties, by 
their ingenious inventions and conflicting conclusions. 

To objectors, of all classes, we are content that Dr. 
Maitland should furnish a reply. 

' Knowing,' he says^ ' that all Scripture is given by In- 



UNFULFILLED PROPEECY. 143 

spiration, and that all is profitable for instruction in 
righteousness, I think we must admit that all ought to be 
read and studied by him who professes to receive the 
Scriptures as the Word of God. This, indeed, I find 
admitted in general terms by most Christians ; and I never 
met with any man, professing to be a disciple of Christ, 
who would have taken upon himself the responsibility of 
marking out those parts of the Bible which a Christian 
should omit to read. But I have met with many, who 
have so stated the matter, as virtually to negative all the 
particulars of their general admission. 

' The reader has probably met with many persons pro- 
fessing religion, and at the same time openly avowing that 
they never attempted to understand those prophecies which 
they consider as unfulfilled — who told him with com- 
placency that they never studied them, and took some 
credit for their forbearance. 

' It is natural that such should desire to dissuade others 
from that which they avoid themselves ; and to this end 
several maxims have been framed and repeated, till they have 
become current, and are frequently used by those who would * 
act more honestly if they simply said that they had never 
attempted to understand a great part of Eevealed Truth, — 
that they considered it a very difficult business, — that they 
had been so much engaged in other matters^ that, far from 
knowing how much might be learned on such points, they 
had never once seriously reflected how far it was a matter, 
either of duty or wisdom, to see whether anything was to 
be learned or not. 

' On some of these maxims I would offer a few remarks, 
because, when they are uttered with gravity, they are apt 
to impose on simple readers of the Bible. 

I, ' We are sometimes told that we ought not to attempt 



144 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

to pry into things which are not revealed. Why, no, to be 
sure ; we ought not to attempt to do anything which 
common sense pronounces at once to be impossible. If 
anything is not revealed, I do not understand how we can 
pry into it, and it is a foolish waste of time to attempt it. 

' But will the persons who deliver this maxim undertake 
to say what is and what is not revealed ? Unless they can 
do this, however magisterially they may affirm the propo- 
sition, it is altogether inconsequential; at all events, it 
does not apply to him who is searching the Scriptures to 
discover what is revealed ; and who is not likely to find — 
or, if he has common understanding, to seek — what is not 
revealed in Eevelation. 

II. ' It is urged by those who desire to dissuade from 
the study of prophecy, that it is not the most important- 
study, — not the most essential, — not the most profitable ! 

* Suppose we should grant this. Surely, if to ascertain 
the meaning of prophecies, which the Spirit of God has 
vouchsafed to give, be not the first and most important 
duty of man, it is at least as important and as profitable as 
many of the pursuits which engage those who nse the 
argument. 

' To come to the point, however. Is it true that unful- 
filled prophecies are among what may be termed the less 
profitable subjects for Christian discussion ? Do not some 
of the subjects which are most frequently brought forward, 
and are considered as of the utmost importance, rest entirely 
on unfulfilled prophecy ? On what ground but what he 
considers a right interpretation of unfulfilled prophecy, 
does any preacher venture to tell his hearers that they shall 
rise from the dead, and that the Son of God shall come to 
judgment ? Yet these truths, resting wholly and entirely 
on unfulfilled prophecy, are, and ought to be published ; 



UNFULFILLED FUOFEFCT. 145 

and if any man discourages the reader of Scripture from 
searching what God may have revealed on these points, by 
telling him that he is not to pry into futurity, not to in- 
dulge his curiosity about the fulfilment of unaccomplished 
prophecy, I venture to say that he does all he can to inter- 
cept the light of God's Truth, and to make His Word of 
none effect, — and he does it at his peril. 

' The truth then seems to be, that there are some unful- 
filled prophecies which Christians in general find to be 
profitable : and I would suggest whether, instead of saying 
that they do not study other prophecies because they are 
unprofitable, they ought not rather to say, that those 
prophecies are unprofitable because they do not study 
them ? ' 

III. * It is often said, ' The prophecies were not intended 
to make us prophets.' If these words are to be taken quite 
strictly, they are certainly true ; and I do not know that any 
man ever pretended, that by studying the prophecies, he 
had obtained the gift of prophecy. If there has been any 
such person, I believe him to have been sadly mistaken. 

' If, however, it is meant that prophecy was not given in 
order that we might foreknow and predict future events, 
it is not true. Yet, from a sort of confused mixture of these 
two ideas, this saying has been supposed to contain much 
wisdom and some wit, instead of being seen to be either a 
mere truism, or a barefaced falsehood. 

'Let us try the truth of this statement by one or two 
prophecies, fulfilled and unfulfilled. 

' Was the prophecy of the Deluge given only that, after 
it had been fulfilled, it might be interpreted ? or was it 
given that men might foreknow the Divine purpose ? When 
a Divine revelation had been given to Noah, in order that 
he might be, in the true sense oL the word, a Prophet, 

L 



146 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

were those who heard him to forbear repeating his words, 
under pain of being sneered at as ' Prophets ' ? 

' Again, were the prophecies of Messiah's first Advent 
given only that they might be interpreted by the event ? 
Did not God vouchsafe those prophecies to gratify the 
curiosity (if it must be so called) of those who waited for 
the consolation of Israel, and to enable them to foreknow 
the things belonging to their peace ? Were the prophecies 
which our Lord uttered, only to be interpreted by the 
event, in order that His own pro\T.dence might be mani- 
fested ? or did He mean His disciples to ' foreknow ' that 
they should be beaten in synagogues, and brought before 
kings and rulers for His sake ? Was our Lord's prophecy 
of false prophets only intended to show His o^ti foreknow- 
ledge ? Was not the Apocalj^Dse given to Him, ' that He 
might show unto His servants things that must shortly 
come to pass ' ? 

' If it be said that many who repeat this false assertion 
do not mean to refer to such common topics as the Eesur- 
rection and the Judgment, but to " certain "peculiar views'' 
or to certain peculiar notions, I must reply that people 
should say what they mean ; and that, if the prophecies of 
God were given for our learning, he must be a bold man 
who undertakes to decide which are worth studying, and 
which are not. For my own part, I am slow to believe 
that God has revealed anything to man which it is not 
worth his utmost pains to learn.' 

We add nothing to these admirable words, beyond 
expressing our firm belief, uttered under a deep sense of 
responsibility, that * to those who have made their calling 
and election sure/ a right understanding of the purposes 
of God in regard to the coming kingdom of Christ, is the 
rnost important object to which they can direct tlieir attention. 



CHAPTEE XXVIIL 

ON A RIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF THE DISPENSATION UNDER 
WHICH WE LIVE. 

" Far down the ages now, 

Her journey well-nigh done, 
The pilgrim Church pursues her way, 

In haste to reach the crown ; 
The story of the past 

Comes up hefore her view ; 
How well it seems to suit her still, 

Old and yet ever new ! " 

BONAR. 

We have more than once expressed our conviction that 
large portions of Scripture can never be rightly understood 
so long as we neglect to regard them in connection with 
the particular dispensation, persons, and circumstances to 
which they are intended to apply. 

No other admitted truth is perhaps so generally for- 
gotten. 

The prevailing notion seems to be that, because ' all 
Scripture is profitable for instruction,' therefore all Scrip- 
ture, uttered no matter when, or to whom, is immediately 
applicable to our circumstances. The folly of this notion 
would be obvious enough if the principle it involves were 
fairly carried out on all occasions. But this is never done. 
It is only adopted in relation to exhortations which are 



148 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

repeated in other forms in the New Testament ; to Types ; 
and to Prophecies which involve blessings. 

The point always taken for granted is, that the present 
is the last and final dispensation of God's Providence in 
His Church ; that therefore all promises, made when or to 
whom they may, culminate in onr experience ; that, — con- 
trary to St. Paul's e^ipress teaching (1 Cor. vii. 18), — the 
converted Jew is to be regarded as a Gentile ; that he who 
is called ' being circumcised,' is to become as if ' un cir- 
cumcised ; ' and that all promises of glory in the latter 
day are to be enjoyed by the Jew, only by and through his 
connection with the Gentile Church. 

But what if it should appear, on a more accurate exami- 
nation of Scripture, that, as the Mosaic dispensation was 
one of special mercy to the Jew, so the present is simply 
what St. Paul calls it, ' the Dispensation of Grace to the 
Gentiles ' (Ephes. iii. 2) ; and that, heyooid this, there yet 
remains a dispensation, that of ' the fuln^ess of times ' 
(Ephes. i. 10), to be entered upon by all of us after the 
Piesurrection, under which the Jew shall fully inherit the 
promises made to his Fathers, and the Heathen become 
the inheritance of the Eedeemer ? 

It would be out of place here to support such a theory. 
Nor shall we attempt it. The only lesson we would draw 
from the possibility of its truth is, that we had better take 
Scripture just as we find it ; and not force it from its 
original meaning, by applications which can be justified 
only on a supposition — incapable of being proved — that 
this dispensation is final and complete. 

We are now dealing with the question simply with refer- 
ence to Interpretation ; and in relation thereto we feel 
bound to maintain, in opposition to the fancies of other- 
wise admirable expositors, that God's Word should be 



THE PRESENT DISPENSATION, 149 

always understood as it stands; as it wMst have been 
understood, if understood at all, by those who listened to 
it when it was first uttered ; as it ivoidd be understood 
now, if it could be read only in the light thrown upon it 
by the context, and apart from any theories of our own. 

To render our meaning as clear as possible, we cannot do 
better than illustrate what we have said, by reference to a 
text which is, as we think, frequently perverted in this 
way. It will at once be seen that the passage in question 
represents a class. 

' liouse of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of 
the Lord ' (Isa. ii. 5). 

To interpret-, as is commonly done, ' house of Jacob ' as 
meaning ' the spiritual Israel,' — all that are brought to the 
God of Jacob, (so Matt. Henry and others) ; — to apply the 
text to the Church of Christ, — as if the Prophet, when 
speaking to the Jews, looked onward to us, and intended 
that a double application should be given to his words, is, 
— however excellent the intentions of the expositor, — to 
darken the Word of God ; to deprive it of all point and 
force ; and, under the delusive idea of thereby giving it a 
wider and more practical bearing, to strip it of all definite 
application whatever. 

No one, of course, disputes that Christians are called 
upon, now and evermore, to ' walk in the light of the 
Lord ; ' but tohy should they not be urged to do so on the 
basis of the Apostolic exhortation to Gentile converts, — 
' Ye w^ere sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the 
Lord : walk as children of light ' (Ephes. v. 8) ? To 
impress the lesson, valuable as it is, from the words of the 
Prophet, is to destroy the meaning of, Scripture : to do so 
from the words of the Apostle is to illustrate it ; for the 
exhortation of Isaiah is addressed exclusively to the Jewish 



150 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

nation, while that of Paul is directed to Gentiles, and so 
to believers in all ages. 

It may be said, that the supposed impropriety of inter- 
preting ' house of Jacob ' to mean ' spiritual Israel/ is a 
matter of opinion. 

If it were so, the objection would have little force. But 
it is quite otherwise. It is plain, from the verse which 
immediately follows, that the Prophet is not addressing 
the spiritual members of the Jewish Commonwealth, but 
the nation at large, in their national capacity ; for he goes 
on, under the very same title — ' house of Jacob' (ver. 6), 
to speak of them as idolatrous and disobedient, and there- 
fore nationally not to be forgiven (ver. 6 — 9): 

It may also be urged, that since the verses which pre- 
cede the one on which we are commenting, and which 
speak of the nations beating their ' swords into plough- 
shares,' refer to the last days (ver. 2 — 4), they must belong 
to the Gentiles ; and therefore the fifth verse may, with 
perfect propriety, be similarly applied. 

But what authority have we for saying that what Isaiah 
tells us he saw ' concerning Judah and Jerusalem,' really 
relates to the Gentiles ? that when he says the nations shall 
flow * to the house of the God of Jacob,' he does not mean 
any such thing ' concerning Judah and Jerusalem ' ? or that 
when he declares ' that the Law shall go forth out of Zion, 
and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem,' he intends the 
Gentile Church under this dispensation ? 

We take this one instance, only as a specimen of hun- 
dreds of others ; for it is no exaggeration to afi&rm, tliat 
hundreds of texts are commonly interpreted in precisely 
the same way ; — that is, without sufficiently regarding the 
dispensation to which they belong, and, as a rule, with 
grievous inattention to the circumstances under which 



TEE PRESENT DISPENSATION. 151 

they were uttered, and the class to whom they were 
addressed. 

We close by commendmg a few Scriptural Facts to the 
careful consideration of all diligent readers of the Bible. 

(1) Explain it as we may, St. Paul clearly terms this 
dispensation one of Grace to the Gentiles (Ephes. iii. 2) ; 
and as plainly speaks of one to come, * the dispensation of 
the fulness of times ' (Ephes. i. 10). 

(2) The Old Testament Prophets never hint at a dispen- 
sation like ours;^ — viz., one under which, for nearly two 
thousand years, delay should take place as to the visible 
exaltation of Messiah. With them, the humiliation, and 
the subsequent glorification of the Eedeemer, by the sub- 
jection of all men to Himself, always seem to touch each 
other. 

(3) The first Christians, notwithstanding the teachings 
of their Lord to the contrary, inherited from the Prophets 
the expectation of the imTnediate triumph of Christ, and, 
for some years, lived in almost daily expectation of His 
Second Advent. 

(4) St. Paul tells us that he received, ' by special revela- 
tion,' the knowledge of a 'mystery, which in other ages 
was not made known unto the sons of men' (Ephes. iii. 5) ; 
'which was kept secret since the world began' (Eom. xvi. 
25, 26) ; which mystery, there seems every reason to believe, 
included, in connection with the freedom of Gentile con- 
verts from Jewish rites, a communication to the effect that 
a long delay would take place before the Saviour's return ; 
— a period during which a 'mystery of iniquity' w^as to 
prevail, and a Gentile election to be gathered in. 

(5) The same Apostle clearly associates the triumph of 
Christ with the Resurrection, When he quotes Isaiah's 
prophecy, 'Unto Him every knee shall bow, and every 



152 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

tongue confess' (xlv. 23), he connects it with the day 
when 'every one of us shall give account of himself to 
God' (Eom. xiv. 11). And again, when he quotes the 
same Prophet as predicting a period when ' the veil that 
is spread over the face of all nations' shall be removed 
(Isa. XXV. 6 — 8), he, like the Prophet, looks for its fulfil- 
ment only at the Eesurrection, — the period when 'Death 
is swallowed up in victory' (1 Cor. xv. 54). 

(6) Peter, contemplating what was, even to him, the 
strange fact that, after the redemption of the world by 
Christ, it should still be allowed to go on as it does, 
explains the mystery only on the principle of its meaning 
salvation, not condemnation; 'even as Paul had taught' 
according to the wisdom given unto him, revealing, in his 
Epistles, some things hard to be understood (even by the 
Apostles themselves), which the unlearned (or rather, the 
unteachable) and unstable wrest, as they do the other 
Scriptures, unto their own destruction' (2 Pet. iii. 15, 16). 

Prom the whole, we draw no conclusion beyond this, — 
that, for aught we can tell, there may he, nay, that there 
probaUy is, a dispensation to come which will explain 
naturally, and as they stand, those passages of Scripture 
which we are now so apt to twist and 'turn in every 
direction, in the vain hope of making them accord with 
our preconceived notions; a dispensation which will also 
- explain why many things in the Bible, which to us appear 
useless — such as the genealogies of tribes and families — 
have been left on record as portions of that Word, the 
characteristic of which is, that it ' dbideth for en^enr! 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

ON THE USE AND MISUSE OF PARALLEL PASSAGES. 

" The works of man inherit, as is just, 
Their author's frailty, and return to dust. 
But Truth Divine for ever stands secure, — 
Its head is guarded, as its base is sure. 
Fixed in the rolling flood of endless years, 
The pillar of the eternal plan appears ; 
The raging storm and dashing wave defies, 
Built by that Architect who built the skies." 

C0^\TPER. 

That great advantage frequently arises from the careful 
study of what are considered to be parallel texts, will 
certainly not be disputed by any intelligent reader of 
Scripture. Sincere and deep is the gratitude every student 
of Scripture ought to feel to the many excellent men who, 
at great cost, both of time and labour, have bequeathed to 
us a mass of references so various and so valuable as those 
are, which now enrich the marginal columns of our Bibles. 
Yet it cannot be denied that some of these references are 
misleading; that others seem to be intended rather to 
guide the reader to a particular view of Truth, than to 
help him to discover the meaning of the Word of God; 
that others relate to the words rather than to the spirit 
of the passage to which they are affixed; and that all, 
even when judiciously selected, do great harm if they lead 



154 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

the reader away from the context, and cause him to rely for 
light rather on a variety of fragmentary passages, scattered 
up and down over the passages of Holy Writ, than on the 
connected reasoning of the Apostle or Evangelist who may 
be writing. Where caution, in this respect, is neglected or 
despised, the result must be disastrous ; for parallel passages 
then merely take the form of a very imperfect and disjointed 
commentary ; are, if simply verbal, quite as likely to delude 
as to enlighten ; and, if otherwise, can furnish but a very 
partial insight into the meaning of any particular text. 

The great point to be aimed at, in our endeavours to 
understand Scripture aright, is to ascertain, first of all, the 
meaning of the ivords; then, by very careful observation, 
the connection in which they stand, and the relation they 
bear to what has gone before, or comes after ; then to con- 
sider the circumstances under which they were uttered or 
written, — the persons to whom they were addressed, and 
the impressions they obviously left, or were intended to 
leave, on those who first read them, or actually listened 
to the living voice of the speaker. If tliis be done care- 
fully and accurately, the reader will soon become familiar 
with the sjjirit as well as the words of Scripture, and will 
be in little danger of falling into any important error, as 
to the lessons intended to be imparted by the sacred 
writer. 

The value of a parallel passage is, as a rule, to be 
measured by the degree in w^hich it possesses a suggestive 
character. It then serves to stimulate research, and to 
indicate the direction in which additional light may pro- 
bably be obtained. For this end, merely verbal references 
are often useful; but, of course, only on the supposition 
that, in each case, care is taken to ascertain the sense in 
which a particular word may, in any given passage, be 



MISUSE OF PARALLEL PASSAGES. 155 

used ; for in Scripture, as in other books, the same word 
is often used in various senses, and in all such cases the 
t7'ue sense can only be discovered by observing the con- 
nection in which it stands. 

No reasonable person can doubt for a moment that, in 
order to ascertain the meaning of particular portions of 
Scripture, — to see it, so to speak, on all sides, — it is abso- 
lutely necessary to keep in mind the tenor of the whole look. 
We always take this course in interpreting a merely human 
composition, even though it be but a letter from a friend ; 
and it is equally necessary to follow it in reading an inspired 
epistle. The character of the writer, — his known senti- 
ments, — what he has said elsewhere, — all go to explain a 
doubtful passage, when it occurs even in the most familiar 
correspondence. How much more is it necessary to keep 
the character and object of God's entire Eevelation in mind, 
when interpreting any part of Scripture ! 

Had the Jews done this, they would not have fallen into 
the grievous mistakes they did relative to the Messiahship 
of the Lord. 

*We have heard out of the Law,' said they to Jesus, 
* that Christ abideth for ever : and how sayest thou. The 
Son of Man must be lifted up' (crucified) (John xii. 34) ? 
They were so far right. Isaiah had said so (ix. 7). So 
had Daniel (vii. 14). 

But was that all that either of these Prophets had said 
about the Eedeemer ? Certainly not. Isaiah had clearly 
foretold His sufferings and death (chap, liii.) ; and Daniel 
had said distinctly that ' after threescore and two weeks, 
Messiah should be ' cut off,' but ' not for Himself.' 

Here, then, is an instance in which the neglect to notice 
the entire teaching led into error. In the case both of 
Isaiah and of Daniel, the two apparently contradictory 



156 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

passages should have been each and equally regarded; 
both should have been hambly received and carefully 
pondered; and patience should have found her perfect 
work in watching and waiting for their full and harmo- 
nious accomplishment in God's own time. 

So with ourselves. Some persons are greatly stumbled 
when they read that David, with all his sinfulness, is 
called, both in the Old Testament and in the New, ' a man 
after God's own heart' (1 Sam. xiii. 14; Acts xiii. 32). A 
reference to another portion of the same Prophet (1 Sam. 
ii. 35) relieves the difficulty; for there, referring to Da^dd, 
God is represented as saying, ' I will raise me up a faithful 
priest, who shall do according to that which is in mine 
heart,' — a passage which at once suggests the primary 
meaning of the text first quoted — viz., that David, in his 
public and official conduct, should fulfil the Divine will, 
and maintain inviolate the laws which God had enjoined. 

This, as a rule, . he did. In two striking instances, 
however, he failed to obey — viz., in the cases of Shimei and 
of Joab. He confesses, on his death-bed, to Solomon, that 
in these instances he had not acted as he ought to have 
done as the ruler of the nation ; and he leaves these men 
to be dealt with, so far as it could be done without in- 
justice, by Solomon. Each of them, by a subsequent viola- 
tion of the law, brought judgment on his own head, and 
died justly. 

Again, in the case of Balaam. Reading merely the 
account given of him in the Book of Numbers (chap, xxiii. 
and xxiv.), one might be led to doubt whether he should be 
regarded as a bad man, or merely as a very imperfect and 
erring Prophet. But the Apostles deKver us from this 
difficulty. Peter tells us that covetousness was Balaam's 
ruin (2 Pet. ii. 15) ; Jude classes him with Cain and 



MISUSE OF PARALLEL PASSAGES. 157 

Korah (ver. 11) ; and John, in the Apocalyse (ii. 14) dis- 
tinctly marks hiin out as a type of evil. 

These illustrations will suffice to show what is, properly 
speaking, to be understood by the injunction to compare 
Scripture with Scripture ; and it is in making such com- 
parisons that a well-prepared collection of parallel passages 
may prove of very great service. 

The phrase, 'Analogy of Faith,' or, interpreted ac- 
cording to the analogy or rule of faith, implies something 
more. It means, when rightly understood, that Scripture 
must be interpreted in harmony with itself — that is, with 
its entire teaching. Paul implies this when he says that 
the death of Christ is a fact or doctrine, ' according to the 
Scriptures ' (1 Cor. xv. 3, 4) ; and so again Peter in the 
Acts, where he speaks of Christ's sufferings as being in 
harmony with ' those things which God before had showed 
hj the mouth of all his Prophets ' (Acts iii. 18). 

So, among ourselves, if any man expound the doctrine of 
a free justification without the works of the law, as if 
it absolved from obligation to holiness, he does so in direct 
contradiction of the analogy of faith, or, in other words, in 
defiance of the general spirit and teaching of Scripture. 

What we have to guard against is, allowing parallel re- 
ferences to mislead us by false associations, — by merely 
verbal resemblances, — by guiding us, however unwittingly, 
into a given line of thought, — by forming a sort of com- 
mentary for us ; and, under pretence of enabling us to 
interpret according to the analogy of faith, by keeping us 
in harmony^ not so much with Truth itself, as with what 
Christians generally suppose to he the spirit of Eevelation, as 
it may happen to be embodied in the particular system of 
theology which is at any given time popular in religious 
circles. 



CHAPTEE XXX. 

ON DOUBTS AND DIFFICULTIES. 

** Strong Son of God, immortal Love, 

Whom we that have not seen Thy face, 
By faith, and faith alone, embrace, 
Believing where we cannot prove; — 
" We have but faith : we cannot hiow ; 
For knowledge is of things we see ; 
And yet we trust it comes from Thee, 
A beam in darkness : let it grow." 

Tennyson. 

Why God, in giving us a revelation of His Will in and 
through a Book, should have left so much room for clouht in 
relation to certain portions, or allowed so many difficulties 
to gather about its communications, is a question some- 
times asked, amid pain and perplexity, in the deepest recesses 
of Christian hearts. 

The true answer, whenever we find it, will certainly be 
this, — 'Because it was wiser and better that it should 
be so/ 

Let us see whether reflection will not enable us, in some 
degree, to perceive this, even now. 

We need scarcely say that doubt is not a plant of 
modern growth, nor is it to be associated only with a 
Written Eevelation. It was felt by Old Testament Seers, 
and it was experienced by New Testament Prophets, 
Asaph frequently expresses one form of it, — 'Verily/ he 



ox DOUBTS AND DIFFICULTIES. 159 

says, ' I have cleansed my heart in vain ;' in vain have ' I 
washed my hands in innocency/ ' When I thought to 
understand this/ he adds, ' it was too painful for me. 
(Psa. Ixxiii.). Again, under the same influence, he ex- 
claims, ' Doth His promise fail for evermore ? ' (Psa. 
Ixxvii. 8). And although it appears that he soon found 
rest and peace in a reposing faith, it is not the less true 
that he was, for a time, under the influence of the most 
painful of all doubts, — that of God's faithfulness. 

Jeremiah, in distress, is equally perplexed when he 
cries, — ' Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper ? ' 
and he is desirous, as it were, to reason with God on the 
incomprehensibleness of His judgments (xii. 1). And again 
' We looked for peace, and there is no good ; and for the 
time of healing, and behold trouble ! ' ' Break not thy 
covenant with us : ' — as if such a thing were possible with 
God (xiv. 19 — 21). Nay, stronger still, — '0 Lord, thou 
hast deceived me, and I was deceived' (xx. 7). In all 
these cases douU was temporary, and followed by renewed 
confidence ; hut it was there. 

John the Baptist furnishes us with an example of 
another kind of doubt. Depressed in his spirit, — disap- 
pointed in his hopes, — and distrusting even the evidence 
of the voice from Heaven, he sends his disciples to Jesus 
with the touching inquiry, — ' Art thou He that should 
come, or do we look for another ? ' 

Thomas furnishes us with an example different from 
any of the preceding, — the other disciples say unto him, 
'We have seen the Lord!' He replies, disbelieving the 
testimony in spite of its unanimity, and notwithstanding 
the confidence he justly reposed in the veracity of his 
brethren, — ' Except I shall see in His hands the print of 
the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, 



160 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe ' 
(John XX. 25). 

The Apostles frequently manifest a sceptical spirit, and 
it is strikingly displayed in the walk to Emmaus, — ' We 
trusted that it had been He which should have redeemed 
Israel' (Luke xxiv. 21). The implication is unavoidable, 
— we have given up that belief now. 

Let us not, then, imagine that douht would have found 
no place in our hearts had Eevelation been, in any respect, 
different from what it is. 

A more important inquiry rises before us. What is the 
moral character of doubt ? Is it, in itself, sinful ? Is it 
always injurious to him who suffers from it ? 

The character of the reply to this question must depend 
on the character of the doubt. Is it honest doubt ? Is it 
a doubt which desires to be removed by evidence ? or is it 
a cherished habit of mind, traceable to conceit, or levity, or 
dislike to that which is asserted ? Everything depends on 
this : — If it is honest, it is painful ; if it is dishonest, it will 
be a source of satisfaction, like self-complacency. If it is 
sincere, it will be temporary, and the soul will have no 
rest until the truth or falsehood of the matter to be inquired 
into is ascertained. If it is affected, it will be chronic, and, 
to a great extent, indifferent as to any definite conclusion 
vrhatever. It must be the one or the other. It is either 
the most sacred agony of a noble nature, or the veriest 
trifling of a fool. 

Of course we speak now of doubt in relation to moral 
truth, — for in this book reference to any other kind would 
be out of place ; and of this, if honest and sincere, we fear- 
lessly affirm that it is not sin, but the trial by fire of God's 
own children. They may look upon it as foolishness or 
ignorance when once freed from it, but they only fi^e 



ON DOUBTS AND DIFFICVLTIES, 161 

themselves from it hy facing it and going into the sanc- 
tuary of God to wrestle it offl 

It is of doubt like this that the Laureate sings, — 

* There lives more faith in honest doubt, 
Believe me, than in half the Creeds. ' 

and it was in relation to such scepticism that old John 
Newton was accustomed to say, — ' Some men's doubts are 
better than other men's certainties.' 

In no instance is this class of doubt dealt with as a 
sin in Scripture. 

The Lord only answers the Baptist with additional evi- 
dence ; — * Go and show John again those things which ye 
do hear and see : The blind receive their sight, and the 
lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the 
dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached 
to them. And blessed is he, who shall not be offended 
in me' (Matt. xi. 4—6). 

To Thomas He is condescending beyond measure. Not 
a word of rebuke. It is simply, — ' Thomas, reach hither 
thy finger, and behold my hands ; and reach hither thy 
hand, and thrust it into my side : and be not faithless, but 
believing.' And yet there is commendation for men of a 
different stamp. ' Blessed are they that have not seen, and 
yet have believed' (John xx, 27 — 29). 

To the two disciples, ' fools, and slow of heart,' as they 
were, ' to believe all that the Prophets had spoken/ He 
kindly expounds, ' in all the Scriptures, the things con- 
cerning Himself;' and then, without one word of reproach, 
sits down with them to meat, and makes Himself known 
in breaking of bread. Is it possible he could have thus 
acted had doubt, in itself, been sinful ? had not a living 
faith, so to speak, lain deeper than the doubt ? 

As has been well said by the lay wT?iter to whom we 

M 



162 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

have already been indebted, ' the absence of positive faith 
and of righteous doubt are exactly correlative. They are 
twin symptoms of the same decadence.' ' I hardly know/ 
he adds, ' one young man who has strength and courage 
enough for righteous doubt. There is plenty of indifference, 
plenty of denial, plenty of cool passing by of whatever can- 
not be understood, plenty of complacent setting up or 
adoption of new philosophical theories ; but of the resolute 
struggle for Truth, very little. Perhaps it has been under- 
gone once on some subordinate point, and the result having 
been that the truth has been found to dwell outside of some 
preconceived opinion, the conclusion has been come to 
that it dwells, probably, outside of all received opinions, 
and that, from the moment one has left these, anything 
that looks like truth may very likely be true, so that it is 
no longer worth struggling with.* 

From the remarks we have already made, it will be seen 
that, far from considering doubt to be in itself sinful, we 
regard it, when righteous, honest, and sincere, as eminently 
helpful to Truth ; and therefore we see no ground whatever 
for surprise that God should have left so much room for its 
exercise in reference to Divine Eevelation. 

Greatly is it to be regretted that the Bishop of Oxford, 
in his recent Sermons on ' the Eevelation of God the Pro- 
bation of Man,* should have spoken regarding it so un- 
advisedly as he has. Admitting, as he does, that ' God's 
Word is spoken to us, and recorded for us, through the 
intervention of human agents,— that it is recorded in 
human manuscripts, read by us out of a printed book, and 
that at every turn there is opportunity for doubt and ques- 
tion,' the Bishop has nothing better to offer to the doubter 
than the advice, — appropriate enough in the mouth of a 
Eomish Priest, but altogether out of character in a Pro- 



ON DOUBTS AND DIFFICULTIES. 163 

testant Prelate, — 'Fling doubt from you as if it were a 
loaded shell shot into the fortress of the soul ; do not inter- 
mit prayer, he more frequent at Communion, frequently 
repeat the Gloria Patri^' — in short, for this is what it 
amounts to, — *Do not venture to examine into Truth,— 
believe, on the authority of the Church, and be at rest.' * 

As if this violent and unnatural suppression of doubt 
were equivalent to Faith ; as if God's revelation of Himself 
in the Bible were given for the purpose of paralyzing the 
intellect, and prostrating humanity at the feet of a Priest ; 
as if all history did not teach us that ' conscientious doubt, 
when suppressed, eats into the soul like a cancer, and that 
the inevitable result is latent infidelity, and the total cor- 
ruption of the moral and spiritual nature.' 

The difficulties of Scripture, then, have their use. They 
tend to promote a constant and ever fresh investigation 
into its claims and its contents ; they call for the exercise 
of humility, patience, candour, and charity, in such investi- 
gations ; and they teach us that great lesson which is writ- 

* * Good men not unfrequently make a secret treaty with their consciences 
to this effect, viz., that in whatever efforts they may make for saving 
Christianity, they will place in the very fore-front of their labours, this the 
most sacred of all principles or universal axioms — salvd Ecclesid. And what 
is this *• EccUsia^' for the preservation of which all things in heaven and 
earth must be compromised or put in peril ? It is not the Church universal, — 
it is nothing that is itself great, bright, fair, pure, or worthy to be lived and 
died for. It is an * idol of the den,' — it is that to which we have chosen to 
pin our self-idolatry, our arrogance, our despotic temper. 

' So it has been with a succession of great and honest men, from Augus- 
tine to our times. What availed that noble work, the Civitas Dei^ in stem- 
ming the torrent of superstition and confusion which so soon after deluged 
Africa and the western world ? Little or nothing. Read the African 
Salvian and find your answer. Kespectfully we would here say — Think of 
this, whoever 'it may be now, in this crisis of Christian belief, in whose 
secret unconfessed purposes this same maxim or principle may crouch— save 
Christianity — salvd Ecclesid' — North British Beview, LXX. 



164 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

ten, as it were, in letters of light alike on God's works and 
0X1 His Word, that advance in knowledge depends, far 
more than we are usually prepared to admit, on the state 
of the heart ; that if we are often left, in our search after 
evidence, to balance probabilities, and to be misled, if we 
allow pride or prejudice to come between us and Truth ; it 
is only to teach us that onr moral probation, as creatures of 
God, extends far beyond mere outward acts; that the 
search after Truth is an important part of it ; and that the 
office of the intellectual faculty is not to sit in judgment 
upon God, but humbly to receive, on the authority of hea- 
ven, teachings which are necessarily hidden from all who 
close their eyes to the demand a Divine Eevelation makes 
on their ohedience, and who shut its light out of their souls, 
only lest it should make their shortcomings too manifest 
even to themselves. 



Lord Christ, who didst, when on earth, mercifully hear 
with the doubts of Thy disciples; pity, vm beseech TJiee, the 
questionings of them that love Thee ; and so enlighten us by 
Thy Holy Spii'it, that, perfectly believing all which Thou hast 
given us, our faith in Thy sight may never be reproved, but 
tha.t we may abide in Thee evermore, through Jesus Christ, 
02ir Lmxl and Saviour, 



CHAPTEE XXXI. 

ON READING THE SCRIPTURES WITH PRAYER. 

" Within this awful Vohime lies 
The mj'stery of mysteries ! 
Happiest they of human race, 
To whom God has granted grace 
To read, to fear, to hope, to pray, 
To lift the latch and force the way ; 
And hetter had they ne'er heen born. 
Who read to doubt, or read to scorn." 

Walter Scott. 

Miss Bremer, in one of her later works, tells us that an 
interview with the Pope, — during which the claims of the 
Catholic Church had been earnestly pressed by the Vene- 
rable Father — closed with these words, addressed to her 
by his Holiness : — 

' Pray, pray for light from the Lord, for grace to acknow- 
ledge the Truth ; because this is the only means of attain- 
ing to it. Controversy will do no good. In controversy is 
pride and self-love. People, in controversy, make a parade 
of their knowledge, — of their acuteness, — and after all, 
every one continues to hold his own views. Prayer alone 
gives light and strength for the acquirement of truth and 
grace. Pray every day ; every night, before you go to rest ; 
and I hope that grace and light may be given to you. For 



166 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

God wislies that we should humble ourselves, and He 
gives His grace to the humble. And now God bless and 
keep you for time and eternity.' 

The accomplished Swedish lady, — good Protestant as she 
is, — adds, ' This pure, priestly, and fatherly admonition 
was so beautifully and fervently expressed, that it went to 
my heart. The Pope was to me really, at this moment, 
the representative of the Teacher who in life and doctrine 
preached humility, not before men, but before God, and 
taught mankind to pray to Him. The Pope's words were 
entirely true and evangelical.' 

Such is the process by which ^perverts to Eome are multi- 
plied. Is there not something wrong about it ? Is Miss 
Bremer's view sound and Scriptural? Are the words of 
Pius, after all, either true or evangelical ? 

We think not. In similar tones and language, many an 
old Eabbi would, in our Lord's time, have addressed a 
young disciple of Christ, in order to win him back to the 
old faith ; and, in similar terms, many a self-satisfied re- 
ligionist still warns and rebukes the inquiring spirit. 

But vjherein is it wrong ? Is it not true that our first 
duty is to pray for light and grace ? Unquestionably it is. 
Further, — Is it not true that, for the most part, in contro- 
versy there is much pride and self-love? and that men 
engaged in it often seek rather to display their acuteness 
than anything else ? It cannot be disputed that such is 
too frequently the case. 

Wherein, then, lies the error ? For, if it be an error, it 
is one that is shared by thousands of Protestants in the 
present day, who are constantly teaching that all contro- 
versy is evil ; that doubt is sinful ; that free inquiry inevi- 
tably leads to scepticism ; and that he who would arrive at 
Truth must do so by abasing his rational faculties, and by 



READING WITH PRAYER. 167 

reading his Bible ' on his knees/ rather than in his library ; 
in the light of devotion, rather than in that of research ; 
with the intellect at rest, rather than alert and quickened ; 
with prayer, rather than with pains. 

The error, as we imagine, lies in the supposition, implied, 
perhaps, rather than expressed, that devout submission and 
intellectual activity are somewhat opposed to each other ; 
that the two cannot, if each be quickened, co-exist, — the 
one being, in fact, destructive of the other ; and that, conse- 
quently, free inquirers rmcst, as a rule, be a prayerless race. 

But is it true that the intellect and the devout affections 
are thus opposed ? — that independent research and prayer 
cannot really go on together ? 

The answer to the question must depend on the cha- 
racter of the prayer supposed to be offered. If a man, in 
praying over his Bible, asks for, and really expects to 
obtain, direct spiritual illumination ; if he imagine that, in 
reply to his petitions, his judgment will, in some way or 
other, be so acted upon, that Truth will present itself to 
his intellect, and carry its own evidence with it ; if, with 
the Fathers, he considers that the influence of the Holy 
Spirit, for which he prays, will be vouchsafed in the form 
of intellectual light ; if, with some eminent modern divines, 
he regards the ' Faith ' for which he entreats, to be ' a new 
faculty,' ' a Divine capacity,' imparted only as a sovereign 
gift, — it then follows, of course, that the more passive he is, 
the better; that self-annihilation, were it possible, would 
be, of all things, the most desirable; that 'creaturely 
activity,' as it is sometimes called, is a hindrance to the re- 
ception of the Divine blessing ; and that prayer stands in 
direct opposition to the exercise of reason. 

This has always been the doctrine of the Church of Eome. 
It manifests itself most, in the most devout of her children 



168 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

It is the distingnisliiiig characteristic of the ' qiiietists ' and 
' mystics ' in her communion, of all ages ; and it has always 
had a charm for devout Protestants of meditative tempera- 
ment, who do not perceive the poison that it embodies. 
We may, and we ought to, sympathize with Madame 
Guyon, when (as translated by Cowper) she sings, — 

" Sweet to lie passive in Thy hand, 
And know no will but Thine." 

But we must not forget that the gifted Jansenist meant 
muoh more than we do by the words she uses ; that her 
passiveness related not merely to the dispensations of God's 
Providence, but to the knowledge of His Word ; and that 
it pointed to, and terminated in, an abject submission to 
Priestly rule and guidance. 

It could not be otherwise. Believing, as she did, that 
God required her to pray, but not to think for herself, — to 
be devout, but not to question, — it followed, as of necessity, 
that she became the slave of men whom she supposed to be 
the appointed depositories of Divine Truth. 

With Protestants, however mystic they may be, the case 
is somewhat different. Believing, as they do, — and truly, 
— that the Holy Spirit is given individually to every 
earnest seeker; and expecting this great boon — as they 
have no warrant for doing, — in the form of direct intellec- 
tual light ; they how, — not before a visible Church repre- 
sented by a Priest, — but before what is neither more nor less 
human, the reflex action of their own piety, whether it be 
intelligent or unintelligent, on their intellects. 

The heart, in all such cases, guides the head, — and the 
result corresponds. If the heart be lowly, loving, and 
pure, the intellectual conviction, whatever it may be, will 
not be inconsistent with anything that is loving and pure. 



READING WITH FRAYER, 169 

But, if the heart be l)ut partially renewed, — if the man be 
still, more or less, under the influence of pride, vanity, 
conceit, uncharitableness, love of power, or self-seeking in 
any form, — the result will be in accordance. The more he 
prays, the deeper will be his satisfaction with his own views ; 
the stronger his confidence in himself, as one ' taught of 
God;' the more malignant will be his fanaticism, his sec- 
tarianism, or his superstition, as the case may be. 

Again we say, — It cannot be otherivise. Believing, like the 
Eomanist, that God requires him simply to pray, and wait 
for a light above and beyond any that he can get by the 
use of his rational faculties, however much these may be 
disciplined by labour, or purified by a right state of heart, 
he tries to lay aside his reason, and, if it were possible, not 
to think his own thoughts, in order that he may passively 
receive from above ' the Truth as it is in Jesus.' He never 
considers that, from the course he is taking, he will neces- 
sarily be acted upon by forces, which, however Divine he 
may deem them, are really as human as any by which 
he is in other ways affected. 

But let us suppose another case. Let us suppose that 
the praying man expects his answer from God in another 
form ; that he has not the slightest expectation of obtaining 
light, apart from a vigorous and independent use of his 
faculties ; that as, when he asks God for daily bread, he 
only expects to receive it in the form of a blessing on his 
industry, his skill, his perseverance, and his trust in God : 
so, in spiritual things, if, when he prays that the ' eyes of 
his understanding ' may be * opened,' he expects his answer 
only in the form of that ^ eye-salve ' (humility) with which 
the eye must be ^anointed,' if it would see (Eev. iii. 18), — 
in the form of purification from the various phases of evil 
that darken and becloud the faculties of a sinful man ; if 



170 TEE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

he bear in mind the words of his Lord, — ' If thine eye be 
single, thy whole body shall be full of light ;' if he look, 
therefore, for his answer, in growing freedom from preju- 
dice, in a greater breadth of charity, in a more loving 
appreciation of Truth and goodness, wherever they are 
found ; and consequently (a necessary consequence), through 
the reception of these * fruits of the Spirit,' to have a clearer 
intellect, a sounder judgment, a better balanced mind ; the 
reverse of all we have stated then becomes true. Prayer 
and intellectual activity go on together, and as, on the 
first supposition, they could not co-exist, so, on this, they 
cannot be separated. 

But which is the true view ? 

For a reply we simply turn to ' the Book,' and to ' the 
Master.' 

The Jews come to Christ with their doubts. What is 
His reply ? Pray ? No ! It is ' Search ! (or rather. Ye 
search) the Scriptures : they are they which testify of me ' 
(John V. 39). Again, He says to them, ' I am come in my 
Father's Name, and ye receive me not.' Why? Because 
ye do not pray ? No ! The cause of unbelief is thus 
stated, — ' How can ye believe, which receive honour one of 
another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God ' 
(ver. 44). ' To this end was I born, and for this cause 
came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the 
Truth. Every one that is of the Truth heareth my voice ' 
(John xviii. 37). 

Paul, at Th-essalonica, when dealing with unbelievees, 
does not call upon them to pray ; but, ' as his manner was, 
went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with 
them out of the Scriptures' (Acts xvii. 2). So, again, at 
Corinth, ' he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath day, 
and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks' (xviii. 4). Again, 



READING WITH PRAYER. 171 

at Ephesus, we are told ' he entered into the synagogue, 
and reasoned with the Jews/ And so, before Felix, he 
^reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to 
come,' till ' Felix trembled ' (xxiv. 25). 

Nor is his method different with believers. Complain- 
ing of some, that, when they ' ought to have been teachers,' 
it was needful to teach them 'which be the first principles 
of the oracles of God,' he adds, ' Strong meat (the full com- 
prehension of the supercession of the Mosaic law by Christ) 
belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who, hy 
reason of use, have their senses exercised to discern both 
good and evil ' (Heb. v. 14) ; i. e,, their faculties exercised 
by practice in the distinguishing of Truth from error (so 
Stuart and Alford). 

How different, in this particular, is the conduct of the 
Apostle he;fore his conversion. He then prayed and perse- 
cuted; while Stephen and the Christians, though ever 
living in the atmosphere of prayer, reasoned out of the 
Scriptures. Saul and the Priests, like the Popes, suppli- 
cated God, and threatened man. Stephen the martyr 
studied, and quoted, and followed the written Word. The 
Persecutor would have nothing to do with controversy. 

After his conversion, Paul, as we all know, became a 
great controversialist. Some of his Epistles — that to the 
Galatiaiis, for example — are almost wholly controversial. 
Before his great change, we look in vain for a single argu- 
ment against heresy; for then, like the Papal chief, he 
only ' breathed out threatenings and slaughter.' It was not 
till he became a Christian that he felt the necessity of 
giving a ^ reason for the hope that was in him ' (Acts xvii. 
2, 17). 

Nowhere in Scripture, either from the lips of Christ or 
His Apostles, is prayer set before us as the medium by and 



172 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

through which Divine light is to be obtained* Every- 
where we are taught to pray for a right state of heart, — for 
pardon, for purity, for temporal and eternal good, for friends, 
for enemies, for all men, for a blessing from above on faith- 
ful teachers of the Gospel ; but noiohere for light in the 
intellect; nowhere either for 'a new facultj^,' or — which 
amounts to the same thing — for light above and beyond 
that which is open to all men. No such petition occurs in 
the prayer Jesus taught His disciples. Would w^e know 
God's will, we are to be ' babes/ as distinguished from the 
' wise and prudent ' of this world ; we are to be ' obedient 
children;' to seek for a renewed natu.re ; for a * wise and 
understanding heart;' for 'a single eye;' for 'the fear of 
God;' and for strength and assistance in the fulfilment of 
every duty. But nowhere are we taught to pray for light, 
except as it springs necessarily out of love. 

It may be said, indeed, that in the Old Testament w^e 
are taught by Solomon to ' cry after knowledge, and to lift 
up our voice for understanding;' but then it is in connec- 
tion with seeking for it, as the miner seeks for silver, by 
long and unwearied toil. David, too prays, ' Open thou 
mine eyes' (Psa. cxix. 18); but the petition is in close 
alliance with others for humility (ver. 21), freedom from all 
mental insincerity (ver. 29), and a general quickening of the 
spiritual nature (ver. 25). 

* We are most anxious not to be misunderstood here. We are only speak- 
ing of * Divine light * in the sense of mental perception. Far be it from us to 
deny that, in one sense — the true and Scriptural sense — light from Heaven is 
essential to all of us. Our ignorance is often felt to be so oppressive, our 
perplexities so harassing, that it would be crushing indeed to one's spirit, to 
feel that we were forbidden to pray for light. But not in the Pope's sense 
can we rightly do so. The light we need, and the only light God warrants 
us to expect, is that of love and purity, freedom from pride, prejudice, self- 
interest, and sin,— the indwelling, in short, of the Holy Ghost. 



READING WITH PRAYER. 173 

It may be urged, also, that Paul prays for his converts 
that 'the word of Christ' may ' dweir in them 'richly' 
(Col. iii. 16) ; that they may ' hold fast that which is good ' 
(1 Thess. V. 21) ; that they may be ' filled ' with ' the know- 
ledge' of God's 'wiir (Col. i 9, 10); but all these peti- 
tions are but so many forms of desire for the sanctification 
of their natures ; for increase of grace ; and for the planting 
within them of all holy principles and dispositions. In not 
a single instance does he direct them to pray for such 
blessings as direct gifts from Heaven ; but always to watch, 
to search, to be faithful to duty, to love Truth, and to 
follow it at all risks, not doubting but that in this path 
they would find it. 

We have said nothing as to the danger of unconsciously 
praying over the Bible, with the desire to find ourselves 
right Yet nothing is more common; and it is certain 
that he who does so will generally succeed in obtaining the 
object of his wishes. ' It is the same with Philosophy. If 
you have a strong wish to find phenomena such as to con- 
firm the conjectures you have formed, and allow that wish 
to hias your examination, you are ill fitted for interrogating 
Nature.' So it is with the Bible. ' Eevelation is to be 
interrogated, not as a witness, but as an instructor! 

What, then, do we learn from the whole ? That Prayer 
is less important or influential on the mind of God than 
Christians generally have imagined ? Sueely not. 

* Prayer is the Christiaii's vital breath, 

The Christian's native air, 
His watchword at the gates of death, 
He enters Heaven by Prayer.' 

What we really learn is that, in the acquisition of Truth, 
Prayer occupies precisely the same position that it does in 
relation to the acquisition of bread; that as God now 



174 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

showers not bread from heaven, as He did in the wil- 
derness, so He showers not truth upon our minds, as 
He did upon the Apostles. And in each case for the 
same reason ; because it is not called for. The labourer has 
nov:, what the Israelite in the desert had not, — the oppor- 
tunity of gaining his bread ' by the sweat of his brow ; ' 
and tlu Christian has novj, what the Christian in Apostolic 
days had not, — a complete revelation of the will of God in 
his hand, and nothing to hinder his understanding it, save 
his worldliness, selfishness, and sin. 

For the removal of these hindrances let us all pray 
earnestly ; assured that, only so far as they are removed 
by the Holy Spirit of God, shall we be able to discern 
' wondrous things ' in the Divine Law. 



Almighty God, who through Thy only legotten Son Jesus 
Christ hast overcome death, and opened unto us the gate of ever- 
lasting life ; grant us, hy Thy Holy Spirit, to have a right 
judgment in all things ; aoid give us gi^ace so to acknowledge 
Thee, that we may evermore he kept steadfast in the faith. 
Teach us, Lord, in reading Thy Holy Ward, how to 
pray, and what to pray for ; and grant that Thy Church, 
being always p/reserved from false Apostles, may he oi'dered 
and guided hy faithful and true Pastm''s, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord., 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

ON THE DIVISION OF SCRIPTURE INTO CHAPTERS AND VERSES, 
W^ITH HEADINGS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS. 

*' Thee unclosing, I find calmness 
'Mid the heart's tempestuous fear ; 
Thou art as the how of pity, 
Gleaming through the storm's career: 
And the stillness of my spirit 
Tells me heavenly joys are near." 

From the Italian^ translated by Sheppard, 

These divisions, it need scarcely "be said, have nothing 
whatever to do with the inspiration of Scripture. They 
are purely human, and comparatively modern. 

The history of this mechanical arrangement is soon told. 

The Vulgate (the Latin version of Scripture) was the 
first divided into cha^pters ; a work undertaken by Cardinal 
Hugo in the thirteenth century, — as some think, by Lang- 
ton, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1227. 

The Hebrew Scriptures were similarly divided by Mor- 
decai Nathan in 1445. 

The division of the New Testament into verses (for it was, 
as we have seen, already broken up into chapters) was 
accomplished by Eobert Stevens, who is said to have com- 
pleted his work in the year 1551, during a journey on 
horseback from Paris to Lyons. Whether it was accom- 



176 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

plislied literally while riding on horseback, or when resting 
at inns, is uncertain. 

The Hebrew Scriptures were similarly broken up into 
verses by Athias in 1661. 

The 'points or stops,' in Scripture are also, for the most 
part, of modern date. 'Full stops' are found in the earliest 
manuscripts ; but our present system of punctuation dates 
from about the ninth century. 

Tlie ' Suhscriptions' annexed to the Epistles, such as 
' The Second Epistle to the Thessalonians was written from 
Athens,' are also un-Apostolic, and not to be depended 
upon. They are often quite inaccurate; and sometimes 
directly contradict internal evidence. Dr. Mill tells us that 
these ' Subscriptions ' were added by an Egyptian Bishop, 
about the middle of the fifth century. Mr. Hartwell Home 
says, — ' Whoever was the author of them was either grossly 
ignorant or grossly inattentive. They are altogether want- 
ing in some of the best ancient manuscripts, and in others 
they are greatly varied.' 

The 'Headings to Chapters' in our English Bibles are 
equally without authority, and sometimes they are quite 
untrustworthy ; e.g., the heading to the closing verses of 
the forty-second chapter of Isaiah is, in our Bibles, ' God 
reproveth the people of incredulity;' while that for the 
verses immediately following, — the earlier verses of the 
forty-third chapter, — is, 'The Lord comforteth the Church 
with His promises/ Yet it is quite plain that the whole 
is addressed to one class of persons, and ought to have been 
closely connected in the text. 

The very same error is committed at the close of the 
forty-third chapter, and in the beginning of the forty- 
fourth ; where, according to the heading, God ' reproveth 
the people as inexcusable,' and then ^comforteth the Church 



CHAPTERS AND VERSES. 177 

with His promises/ No such separation, however, is found 
in the Prophet. He knows nothing of this distinction 
between Church and people. AVell may Dr. Maitland say, 
' this is not rightly dividing the Word of Truth, but cruelly 
chopping it.' In hundreds of instances, these headings, 
standing as they do in Bibles professedly published without 
note or comment, are not unfrequently commentaries of the 
worst description, because arbitrary, dogmatic, and unsus- 
pected. 

The divisions into Chapters and Verses, as they now 
stand, are so obviously imperfect, that it is scarcely need- 
ful to draw attention to the fact ; but even when not 
absolutely inaccurate, they often tend to break the sense 
and to obscure the meaning ; e. g., — 

(a) The description of the humiliatiou and glory of 
Christ by Isaiah really begins, not as it appears in the 
English version to do, with the fifty-third chapter, but 
at the thirteenth verse of the fifty-second. 

(&) In Jeremiah, the various prophecies are frequently 
confounded by this division. An ejatirely distinct prophecy 
evidently commences at the sixth verse of the third chapter, 
which is nowhere shown in our Bible. 

(c) In the New Testament, the latter verses of the ninth 
chapter of Matthew evidently belong to the tenth ; and the 
first verse of the fourth chapter of the Colossians as plainly 
belongs to the third chapter. 

The Epistle to the Hebrews affords a striking example 
of the serious hindrance to the understanding of the argu- 
ment, which is sometimes placed in the way of the reader 
by breaking an Epistle into chapters. Most of the passages 
in this Epistle begin with,—' Wherefore,' ' For,' or, * There- 
fore ; ' so that the reader who confines himself to one or 
more chapters, often begins witli a conclusion from an arga- 

N 



178 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

meiit, or an argument for a proposition whicli lie has not 
read; and reads a proposition or an argument stopping 
short of the conclusion. And yet, such is the power of 
habit and prejudice, that many would not be content with 
reading it in any other form ; they would fancy that its 
sacredness had been taken away. 

An intelligent reader of Scripture will find many more 
such examples ; and it can scarcely be doubted that the 
tendency of them is to darken the sense. Yet these divi- 
sions have been so generally adopted, that both in public 
worship, and in the selection of portions for family or 
private reading of the Scriptures, we generally take one or 
more chapters, without any reference to the connection. 

It may, indeed, be said, that a Christian who sets himself 
seriously to study the Word of God, will pay little or no 
attention to these divisions. This may be true; but a 
great part of those who read the Bible do not read stu- 
diously; and even thorje who do, may find it easier to break 
off a bad habit, than to get rid of all the ill effects of it. 
These divisions are so familiar to us, that it is difficult, if 
not impossible, to read the Bible as if we had never known 
them, even when we are aware of their mischievous efiects, 
which readers in general most certainly are not. 

The early Christians had indeed titles and heads to their 
Bibles, but the object was simply to point out the general 
contents, not to divide for reference. Many of these chap- 
ters contained only a few verses, and some of them not 
more than one. 

But it will be said, Are not these divisions of great use ? 
Unquestionably they are. To pretend that no advantage 
has been derived from such an arrangement would be simply 
absurd. It is certainly very convenient for reference, espe- 
cially in connection with a Concordance, and it is therefore 



CHAPTERS AND VERSES. 179 

wisely retained, "by side-notes, in Bibles wliich are printed 
on another plan, and are generally known as ' Paragraph 
Bibles/ 

The greatest evil, probably, that has arisen from tlie 
breakhig np of Scripture into portions, is the encourage- 
ment it has afforded to the common, but bad habit, of 
reading the Bible in fragments, oftentimes as unconnected 
as the pages of any other book would be, if separated from 
that which precedes and follows them. 

If we add to this habitual mangling of the Word of 
Truth, the scarcely less evil of textual preaching. \Yliich has 
probably been greatly promoted by the same cause, it will 
be found difficult to overstate the amount of mischief which 
has been thus produced and perpetuated. 



Blessed Lord, who hast caused all Holy Scriptures to be 
written for our learning ; grant that we may in such ivise 
read, mctrk, learn, and inwardly digest them ; that by 
patience, and comfort of Thy Holy Word, we may embrace, 
and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, ivhich 
Thou hast given us in our Saviour, Jesus Christ. 






CHAPTEE XXXIII. 

HOW HELPS MAY BECOME HINDRANCES. 

** Some critics furnish comment spun as fine 
As bloated spiders draw tlie flimsy line : 
If stubborn Greek refuse to be their friend, 
Hebrew or Syriac shall be forc'd to bend. 
If languages and copies all cry, No ! 
Somebody proved it centuries ago. 
Like trout pursued, such sophists, in despair. 
Dart to the mud, and find their safety there." 

COWPER. 

Under the term 'Helps' to the understanding of Scrip- 
ture, we include, not merely books specially written for the 
purpose of facilitating its study, but all standard Commen- 
taries and theological manuals, — the devotional writings 
both of Anglicans and Puritans, and approved works of 
practical piety generally ; for books of this character, com- 
monly sway mankind more powerfully in the views they 
take of Holy Scripture, than works expressly prepared with 
a view to its elucidation. 

To books, must be added an agency more powerful still, 
— that of the living voice, sounding, Sunday after Sunday, 
from the pulpits of the Established Church, and among all 
shades of Nonconformists. It is scarcely possible to 
exaggerate the extent of influence exercised in this way 
over religious opinion. 



HOW HELPS BECOME HIXBRANCES, 181 

We are not disposed to undervalue any of these ' means 
of grace/ as they are ordinarily termed. In many cases, 
the amount of blessing thus imparted is greater than 
human arithmetic can calculate ; in others, it may be 
dpubtful whether the apparent benefit is as real as it seems 
to be ; and in some, the influence is unquestionably bad. 
But, as a whole, there can be little doubt that sermonizing, 
with all its weakness, is a public benefit, and a mainstay 
of the religion of our land, such as it is. 

Our object is not to depreciate the value of either books 
or men, regarded as teachers of Divine Truth ; it is simply 
to show how easily these ' helps ' — for such they certainly 
are when rightly used — may become ' hindrances,' if trusted 
in without discrimination, — substituted for personal respon- 
sibilities, — or merely leaned upon as pillows of indolence. 
Even of books specially intended to facilitate Scriptural 
investigation, it may be asserted, without paradox, that 
they are sometimes at once both helps and hindrances ; 
helps in one direction, hindrances in another. 

Such we believe to be the case, notwithstanding their 
acknowledged excellences, with many ' critical introduc- 
tions ' to the Bible. They help us, by the information they 
impart ; they hinder, by the impression they leave that 
Holy Scripture can scarcely be understood without a pro- 
longed course of preparatory acquisition. 

How, it may well be said, can it be expected that 
ordinary readers should ever be qualified to form any 
independent judgment respecting the teachings of a Book, 
for the interpretation of which upwards of three hundred 
rules, occupying in their statement and illustration nearly 
two hundred closely printed octavo pages, are found in a 
work so able and yet so popular as that of Mr. Hartwell 
Home ? How can it be supposed that laymen, occupied as 



182 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE, 

they are every day in the active duties of life, will ever be 
aMcj — whatever their wishes may be, — to enter into dis- 
cussions on the ' literal sense/ the ' allegorical sense/ and 
the ' spiritual sense ' of Scripture ; into ' laws for ascer- 
taining ' the meaning of words and phrases, and the ' ar- 
rangement of emphasis ; ' into inquiries about ' scholiasts 
and giossographers ; ' into ' canons' for investigating ' scope' 
or context, ' analyses,' ' antiquities,' ' chronology,' and ' the 
analogy of faith ; ' into explanations of ' tropes and figures/ 
— of ' metonymy/ whether ' of cause, effect, subject, or 
adjunct,' — of ' metaphors and their sources/ — of ' synec- 
doche, irony, and hyperbole ; ' of ' types, parables, and pro- 
phecy ; ' of ' internal and external evidences ; ' and, finally, 
of ' principles for practical application/ Yet such, and 
nothing less, is the vastness of the apparatus deemed to 
be necessary in order to understand aright the Divine 
Message. 

We are not to be supposed, for a single moment, to look 
with contempt on any of these branches of inquiry. They 
all have their place in the course of a student's preparation 
for life, and form part of that mental discipline by which 
the human mind is enlarged and strengthened. But, just 
as ' critical analyses of the English langTiage,' — which ha.ve 
little to do with a plain man's comprehension of his mother 
tongue, — often create an impression on the mind of the 
untaught, that some mysterious light is by such processes 
developed, so, ordinary readers of Scripture are ^ apt 
to conclude that, ajjart from critical investigations of 
the kind referred to, the Bible can never be properly 
understood. 

Lest we should be suspected, — however unjustly, — of 
despising the labours of the learned in this particular, we 
will state what we have further to say on the matter, only 



JIOJV HELPS BECOME HINLRANCES, 183 

in the words of men justly held in the highest repute for 
their attainments. 

That eminent scholar, Dr. Maitland, thus wrote thirty 
years ago : — 

* I must add my belief that the cumhersome apparatus of 
systematic interpretation ought to be placed among the 
impediments to the right understanding of the AVord of 
God. The learning and labour which have been bestowed 
on it, seem to me to have been worse than wasted : and so 
far from its helping towards the understanding of the 
Word of God, it appears more calculated to puzzle and 
perplex the student, and to supply, to those who may 
desire it, the means of confounding common sense, and ' 
perverting the plain text of Scripture/ 

' These systematic schemes ' (referring, especially, to 
Waterland's Preface to his ' Scripture Vindicated '), he says, 
* are probably unknown to most readers of the Bible, and, 
therefore, do not directly form an impediment to them ; but 
it is obvious, that complex machinery which they never 
saw, and could not understand, may have a great effect on 
the manufactured article of which they are the consuxpers,' 

' Some persons, I believe, have thought that they put 
honour on the Word of God, and the language in which it 
is written, by telling us that there is something 'in the 
original' which no translation can reach, — something not 
transfusible, not expressible. No doubt this is true, as 
regards every language, and every book in every language, 
unless it is confined to the most common subjects, and 
written in the lowest style. In most cases, the curious 
felicity of one language cannot be transferred to another, 
without using such periphrasis, or making such nonsense, 
as is peculiarly unfelicitous ; but so far as regards meaning, 
where meaning is of importance, and the mode of expres- 



184 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

sion of secondary consideration, or none at all, anything 
written in one language may be made intelligible in 
another, provided the things spoken of are known to the 
translator, and the persons for whom he translates/ 

For recent testimony in the same direction we turn to the 
University of Oxford, and there we find one of no mean 
eminence thus expressing himself: — 

' Who would write a bulky treatise about the method to 
be pursued in interpreting Plato or Sophocles ? No man, 
assuredly, who did not wish to create the impression that 
the meaning of these writers was beyond the comprehension 
of ordinary readers. And this is precisely what has been 
done in relation to Scripture. People have come to believe 
that without a formidable critical apparatus it is not possible 
to arrive at the meaning of God's Word : whereas the 
reverse is nearer the truth. The plain and unsophisticated 
reader is far more likely to get at the true interpretation 
than the learned student. For the true use of interpreta- 
tion is to get rid of interj)retation, and to leave us alone in 
company with the Author. 

' Ai^hen the meaning of Greek words is once known, the 
young student has almost all the real materials which are 
possessed by the greatest Biblical scholars, in the Book 
itself. The great thing, after all, is to perceive the meaning 
of words in reference to their context. Less weight should 
be given to Lexicons, — that is, to the authority of other 
Greek writers, — and more to the context. It is no exag- 
geration to say that he who, in the present state of know- 
ledge, will confine himself to the plain meaning of words, 
and the study of their context, may know more of the 
original spirit and intention of the Authors of the New 
Testament, than all the controversial writers of former ages 
put together.' 



EOW HELPS BECOME HINDRANCES. 185 

The verbal critic magnifies his art. There is a scholasti- 
cism of Philology as well as a scholasticism of Philosophy. 
Words are often studied too minutely, — made to mean too 
much, — refinements of signification are drawn out of them. 
There seems, indeed, to be good reason for doubting whether 
any considerable light can be thrown on the New Testa- 
ment from inquiring into the language. It has not been 
sufficiently considered that the difficulties of the New 
Testament are, for the most part, common to the Greek 
and the English. The noblest translation in the world has, 
indeed, a few great errors, and these, more than half of 
them, in the text ; but we only do the Book violence to 
haggle over the words.' * 

Once more we return to Dr. Maitland. 
' The Bible,' he says, * has long been the subject of dis- 
cussion by the learned and the unlearned; and some of 
each class have left no stone unturned to make it appear 
that certain parts mean what they certainly do not mean. 
These persons are assisted, in the New Testament, by having 
a vast number of Greek writers, of various countries and 
ages, by whose help to find or to make a required meaning. 
The critic shows that the word in question is used in a 
variety of senses by different writers ; and it is hard if he 
cannot twist some one of them into a resemblance of what 
he wishes. Thus an overwhelming mass of what is called 
' Biblical Criticism ' is heaped upon the Word of God, 
and explanation after explanation too often only makes the 
matter darker than it was before. 

' Triiih is single ; and therefore one is right, and the rest, 
how many soever they may he, are wrong. A good deal of 
the evil of this arises, I imagine, from vanity, coupled with 

* The Rev. B. Jowett, Regius Professor of Greek in the University of 
Oxford. 



186 THE STUDY OF THE BIBLE, 

the affectation of iiK)desty. The commentator frequently 
knows not what to say ; but is unwilling to confess this 
without showing that he knows what others have said. 
His own mind is altogether dissatisfied with their explana- 
tions, yet he 'recounts them ; and without saying of some (as 
he really ought, if he mentions them at all), that they are 
mere nonsense, not worth a moment's notice, he affects to 
leave it to the reader to choose what explanation he pleases. 
A simple mind is thus bewildered, and perhaps almost led 
to a vague idea, that w^hat has so many interpretations, all 
thought worthy of record, has not, in fact, any very certain 
or definite meaning at all/ 

And all this folly and confusion arises from attempts 
which have been too successfully made, to raise an opinion 
that the Bible is not to be judged of by the rules of 
common sense ; forgetting the fact, that learning can 
obscure as well as illustrate, and heap up chaff when it 
can find no more wheat. 

Thus far we have sustained our position by the authority 
of eminent men in the Church of England. We now add 
a few words of Nonconformist testimony. 

' Startling/ says an able writer in the Eclectic Review 
(Nov., 1860), ' as the fact sounds when enunciated, the 
Christian Church in the nineteenth century cannot j^oint the 
student of the Sacred Scriptures to a single recognized prin- 
ciple of Biblical Interpretation! AVho can wonder at the 
avowal that follows ? — ' The readiness and the findino[s of 
the private Christian are often in advance of the exposi- 
tions and instructions of the public teacher.' 

When once this fact is fully recognized, the false notion 
— now all but universally held — that the one Di^dnely ap- 
pointed means of Christian edification is Sacred Oratory, 
delivered from the pulpit, will be shaken to its foundation. 



HOW HELPS BECOME HINDRANCES, 187 

It will then be seen that while popular speaking, when 
effective, is admirably adapted to awaken the attention of 
the careless, to interest the * young and uninformed, to 
kindle the affections, and to move to action, it is altogether 
unsuited to advanced Christians ; is incapable of leading 
them on to deep personal acquaintance with Divine Truth ; 
and, after a season, all but certain to become a hindrance to 
spiritual growth. This happens, because it is commonly 
abused by the indolent ; because it occupies, in the esteem of 
multitudes, the place of personal investigation; and because 
— being associated with united worship — it almost inevitably 
becomes the only living channel of religious impression. 

Nothing is more certain than this, — that whatever want 
seems to be supplied to a man ivhile in a passive condition, 
he will never seek to satisfy by active effort. Yet it is 
quite as true in religious matters, as it is in everything 
else, that, without labour and discipline, all direct instruc- 
tion must be unavailing and useless. The most elaborate 
and manifold apparatus can impart nothing of importance 
to the passive and inert mind. It is almost as unavailing 
as the warmth and light of the sun, and all the sweet influ- 
ences of the heavens, when shed upon the desert sands. A 
mind, even if it be filled with the results of other men's 
labours, can, as Dr. Beattie remarks, ' only be compared to 
a well-filled granary ; it bears no resemblance to the fruit- 
ful field, which multiplies that which is cast into its lap a 
thousandfold.' 

Hitherto we have proceeded on the supposition that the 
teaching thus imparted, — although too oratorical, — is, on 
the whole, sound and sensible. But that it is not alivays 
so, is but too well known. Ministers themselves not un- 
frequently complain of the immeasurable mischief which is 
inflicted by much of our popular preaching on the cause of 



188 THE STUDY OF TEE BIBLE. 

Bible iriterpretation. An ingenious twist is often valued 
more than a true explanation. The words of the text in 
such cases merely supply a theme, neither preacher nor 
hearers ever troubling themselves about its meaning. The 
reason for this course is, that the text is wanted merely for 
the purpose of communicating some moral or religious 
lesson, determined upon beforehand ; or for the support of 
some cause which the preacher may be pleading, or to con- 
demn some error which he has to combat. As has been 
well remarked, — ' Any one who has ever written sermons 
is aware how hard it is to apply Scripture to the wants of 
the hearers, and, at the same time, to preserve its meaning.' 

This sort of perversion is bad enough when united, as it 
often is, with deep earnestness, solid learning, and much 
oratorical power; but how intolerable it becomes, when 
combined with ignorance and folly, vanity and conceit, w^ill 
be fully admitted by all who have been obliged to listen, as 
too maijy have, to expositions of Scripture which, from 
their astounding stupidity, are only calculated to excite 
men to laughter or to scorn. 

Who has not heard sermons in which the entire teaching 
has been made to turn altogether upon mere emphasis, 
applied in the most arbitrary manner to a single verse of 
Scripture ? sermons, which remind one only of the sen- 
tence, dear to every schoolboy, — ' J3o you ride to town to- 
day ? * since it is one which, according as this or that word 
is made emphatic, admits of five different meanings, and is 
capable of being considered in five distinct relations, viz., to 
fact, to person, to mode, to place, and to time. Seriously, 
such is the treatment the Word of God too frequently 
receives at the hands of men who, themselves wanting 
common sense, are quite unconscious that others possess 
that Divine gift. 



CHAPTEE XXXIV. 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 

** A s I read, my soul is conscious 
Of a tender, deep surprise ; 
Nor from bitter fonts of sorrow 
Gush the drops that dim these eyes ; 
Holy Volume, — take the tribute 
Which my tearful joy supplies." 

From the Italian — Shcppard' s translation. 

It may have occurred to some readers that, in the observa- 
tions we have made, relative to the right understanding of 
Scripture, we have dealt too much with the negative, and 
too little w^ith the 'positive side of the question ; that we 
have lingered long over supposed hindrances, but said little 
as to lielps which may be obtained and confided in by 
liumble inquirers. 

The criticism is just. We have done so advisedly ; partly, 
because we think that previous writers on this subject, 
have, for the most part, taken no notice of the impedi- 
ments we have endeavoured to lay bare ; and partly, be- 
cause we are satisfied that little real help can be given to 
an intelligent reader of the Bible, beyond that which is 
afforded by pointing out the most obvious hindrances to 
its comprehension; and by directing his attention gene- 
rally to rocks and quicksands which, whether seen or un- 
seen, form the main obstacle to the safe arrival of the 
heavenward traveller in the haven of Truth. 



190 TEE STUDY OF TKE BIBLE, 

Yet not exclusively liave we alluded to hindrances. Three 
or four great leading principles may certainly be gathered, 
from what we have, at different times, suggested as import- 
ant to be borne in mind. 

T\\Q first is, that in studying Scripture, and in connection 
with humble and prayerful dependence on ' the Giver of 
every good and perfect gift,' — it should be read connectedly 
and as a whole; with faculties alert and awakened; with' 
Ttiinute observation of the often partially concealed linJcs of 
tliought which connect portion with portion; and with 
a constant reference to the object of the speaker or writer — 
the cliarctcter and circumstances of the parties addressed, — 
and the age w^ dispensation to which the truth in question 
may be supposed specially to belong. 

The second is, to acquire clear and distinct conceptions as 
to the precise meaning of what are sometimes termed the 
' technicalities ' of Scripture. As words of this class are 
used in different senses, their true meaning in any given 
case, can only be ascertained by carefully observing the 
connection in which they stand, and the obvious intention 
of the writer in using them. 

The third, — implied rather than expressed, — is, to seek 
after the true import of Scripture silences, often more ex- 
pressive than speech ; and to weigh well the indirect hints 
which are scattered over the Bible, relative to events pre- 
dicted, but not yet fulfilled; such as the restoration of 
Israel, — the ' times of the restitution of all things,' — the 
bringing again of Sodom, Moab, and Edom, — the second 
coming of the Lord, and the universal subjection of man- 
kind to His government. 

Above all would we urge the conscientious devotion of an 
adequate portion of time to the general study of the Book, 
both alone and with others. And this with a view, not 



CONCLTILIXG REMARKS. 191 

only to personal edification, but to the improvement of all 
with whom we come in contact. No man will ever learn, 
who is determined beforehand not to teach. No man can 
know how little or how much he knows of any subject 
until he has attempted to teach it. 

Diligence in this work will be sure of an abundant 
reward. The Bible can never get hehind the age. It has 
treasures in it, many and great, yet nndiscouered. Advance 
in acquaintan|jp with it can only be made 'in the way 
in which all improvements are made ; by thoughtful men's 
tracing on obscure hints — as it were, dropped us by nature 
accidentally, or which seem to come into our minds by 
chance.' * 

It may finally be objected, that many things we have 
suggested as means to understand Scripture, are, in fact, re- 
sults of prolonged examination; and that a somewhat 
extensive knowledge of the Book is 'preswp'posed as a 
necessary qualification for commencing its study. 

Again we say, — the criticism is just. We have never 
imagined ourselves to be writing for persons who approach 
the Bible for the first time, or who take it up for perusal 
without any preconceived impressions as to its spirit or 
contents. 

We have, throughout the entire book, taken it for granted 
that our readers will be persons who are, more or less, 
familiar with their Bibles ; who have already received de- 
finite impressions as to its teachings, from a variety of 
sources ; but who are, nevertheless, desirous of enlarging 
their acquaintance with the Sacred Eecord, and of correct- 
ing their prepossessions by fresh, and, as far as may be, 
independent examination. 

We urge this task upon all, — whatever may be their 

* Bishop Butler, "The Analogy," p. 2, c. iii. 



192 TEE STUDY OF THE BIBLE. 

supposed inability to accomplish it, — on ground applicable 
to many things, and expressed by a Heathen poet in the 
phrase, ' Vires acquirit eiindo,' strength is acquired in 
proceeding. Virgil, indeed, is speaking of rumour, which 
gathers force as it goes, but the sentiment is applicable to 
almost all human undertakings. If we would become 
acquainted with our ability to do a thing, we must patiently 
and perseveringly endeavour to accomplish it. 

Neglect in the performance of any d]jty commonly 
entails, as its punishment, the very inability which is com- 
plained of. Our Lord says to the Jews, ' Yet a little while 
is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest 
darkness come upon you' (John xii. 35). 'And that dark- 
ness does come. Not only is the light itself removed, but 
there is a peculiar darkening of the eye in those who have the 
light and do not use it. It is with the souls of such men, 
as it is with the bodies of certain lower animals, which 
have withdrawn themselves into ray less caverns, afar from 
the light of day : they were plainly form.ed by their Creator's 
hand to see; but their long absence from the light has 
obliterated the power of vision, so that, at times, even the 
very visual organs themselves become extinct. And so it 
is with these souls. The gradations are well-nigh imper- 
ceptible, but the end is sure.'* 

* Sermons by the Bishop of Oxford, ' God's Revelation Man's Probation.' 



Almighty God, ivho alone canst order the unruly vjills 
and affections of sinful onen ; grant unto Thy people that 
they may love the thing which Thou commandest, and desire 
that which Thou dost proiiiise ; that so, among the sundry 
and manifold changes of the world, our hearts may surely 
there he fixed, where true joys are to he found, through Jesus 
Christ our Lord. 



INDEX. 



Accommodation of Scripture, — how far lawful, 67; when unlawful, 68 ; leads 
to perversion, 69 — 72. 

Affections (The), — bias of the, 55 ; power and influence, 59. 

Analogy of Faith, 157. 

Arius at the Council of Nice, 117. 

Athanasius at the Nicene Council, 117. 

Atonement, — a revealed fact, 46 ; inferences therefrom, 47 ; mis-trans- 
lated, 47. 

Authority, — in interpretation, not allowed to the Jewish Priesthood, 124. 

Bacon (Lord), — his method applied to Scripture, 53. 

Baptism (Christian), — absence of direct evidence, 43. 

Basil (St.), — his errors on the Holy Spirit, 37. 

Bias, — from reverence, 51. 

'^•ible, — its neglect, 9 ; val , 

character, 16 ; never behind the age, 191. 

Biblical Interpretation, — its history, 2 ; its character, 3 ; its abuse, 4 ; its 
importance, 8. 

Bishop, — sense in Scripture. 103. 

Blindness, — sometimes judicial, 32. 

Bremer (Miss), — interview with the Pope, 165; error on prayer, 166. 

Bushnell (Dr.), — views on Inspiration, 37. 

Butler (Dr. Archer) on Church Principles, 129. 

Butler (Bishop) on advance in Scriptural knowledge, 191. 

Chalmers (Dr.) — incautious statement, 34. 

Chief of sinners, — all not such, 87. 

Church, — its various significations, 103; authority, 112; voice of, 136. 

Communion Service, — the Exhortation, 130. 

Constantine (The Emperor), 117 — 119. 

Controversy, — St. Paul's practice of it, 171. 

Conversion, — its meaning, 97. 

Covenant, — its meaning, 98. 

Creeds, — based on inferences, 112; their authority, 114. 

Dangers of the present day, 66. 

Davidson (Dr.) on Types, 91. 

Deacon, — meaning of the word, 104. 

Depravity (human), — exaggeration, 87. 

De Quincey on the Fathers, 66. t 

Discussion, its value, 8. 

Directory of the Free Church, — its assumptions, 132. 

Dispensations to be regarded in interpretation, 147. 

Divisions of Scripture, — history of, 175 ; very imperfect, 177* 

Doctrines, their exaggeration, 89. 

O 



194 IXBEX. 

Doubt, — why room for it, 158 ; Scriptural instances, 159 ; honest or dis- 
honest, 160 ; Christ's treatment oi* it, 161 ; sometimes helpful, 162 ; 
Bishop of Oxford on it, 162. 

Easter, 102. 

Ecclesiastical terms in Scripture, 102. 

Edification, — reading for, 61 ; mischievous effect, 62. 

Election, — a revealed fact, 47 ; inferences deduced therefrom, 48 ; defined, 48. 

Emphasis, — how abused, 188. 

Eusebius at Council of Nice, 117- 

Evidences of Scripture, — available, 22 ; from character of Christ, 23. 

Evils of neglect of Scripture, 192. 

Exaggeration of Scripture, 81 ; illustrations, 83 — 89. 

Facts of Scripture, 41 ; distinguished from inferences, 42. 

Faith expounded by Dr. Manning, 137 ; by St. Paul, 137. 

Fathers (The), — their mystical method, 7 ; untrustworthy as interpreters, ^b. 

Free Church of Scotland, — its claims, 131. 

Grace, — meaning in Scripture, 98. 

Gresley (Rev. W.) on Bias, 57. 

Happiness (Supposed) of Romanists, 138; Dr. Whately's explanation, 139. 

Headings to Chapters often incorrect, 176. 

Heaven, — as spoken of in Scripture, 100. 

HeU,~its various meanings, 100. 

Helps (Scripture), — what they are, 180; sometimes hindrances, 181 ; cum- 
bersome apparatus, 183. 

Hindrances (Scripture),— verbal criticism, 185; no fixed principles, 186; 
sacred oratorj^, 187 ; textual preaching, 188. 

Holy Spirit, — in what sense given, 33 ; enlightens only by purifying, 34 ; 
perverted texts on it, 35. 

Hymns, — their influence, 107 ; value, 107 ; Wesley's, 108 ; Watts' s 
'Psalms, 109. 

Infallibility,— craving for it, 40 ; predisposes to Romanism, 40. 

Infinite, — wrong application to the term, 88. 

Inspiration, — its twofold character, 28 ; an inspired man, 29 ; an inspired 
book, 30 ; errors relating to the subject, 31. 

Interest, — its infiuence in religion, 59. 

Johnson (Dr.) on Sacred Poetry, 111. 

Jowett (Rev. B.), — his principle of interpretation, 5 ; what it means, 6 ; 
what it forbids, 6. 

Law, — meaning in Scripture, 99. 

Levites, — their duty, 125 ; not interpreters, 126. 

Light from Heaven, — errors relating thereto, 35. 

Lord's Supper, — inapplicable texts, 130. 

Maitland (Dr.),— his essay, 61 ; on Unfulfilled Prophecy, 140. 

Manning (Dr.) on the Ground of Faith, 137; not the faith of the New 
Testament, 138. 

Marsh (Bp.), — his rule on TjT)es, 91. 

Minister, — its true meaning, 103. 

Miracles,— Christ and His Apostles pledged to them, 24. 

Mysticism,— its influence on Truth, 168. 

Natural Man, — in what sense blind, 32 ; his responsibilities, 34. 

Nice (Council of), 117 ; Dr. Stanley on, 117. 

Nicene Creed, — its peculiarity, 119; its value, 120. 

Nicene Fathers,— their supposed advantages, 122 ; their superstition, 123. 



INDEX, 195 

Old Testament Prophets, — their utterances, 6. 

Ordination Service, 128. 

Origen, — his era of interpretation, 3 ; his extravagance, 93. 

Oxford (Bishop of) on Inspiration, 112 ; 162. 

Parallel Passages, — often misleading, 153. 

Passive state of mind, — its evils, 187. 

Paul (St.), — views on authority before conversion, 126 ; after, 127. 

Perversions of Scripture, 73. 

Pio Nono, — on prayer, 165; error involved, 167. 

Prayer (for light) not opposed to independent research, 165 ; mystical view, 

167 ; example of Paul, 170 ; other Scriptural examples, 172 ; its relation 

to Truth, 173. 
Prayer of Faith, 168 ; St. Paul's view, 170 ; united prayer, 170 ; erroneous 

conclusions, 169. 
Preach, — meaning of the term in Scripture, 105. 
Prejudices, — of the religious, 53 ; of the sceptical, 53. 
Priests (Jewish), — their office, 124. 

Private Judgment, — what it means, 135 ; its exercise, 136. 
Projection of Scripture, 73 ; illustrations, 74 — 80. 
Prophecy (Unfulfilled), — duty of studying it, 140 ; excuses for neglect, 142 ; 

important considerations, 143. 
Prophets (Jewish) generally laymen, 125. 
Reformers, — their principles of interpretation, 4. 
Eegeneration, — its meaning in Scripture, 97. 
Resurrection, — teaching of Paul, 151 ; of Peter, 152, 
I^evelation, — in nature and providence, 1 2. 
Sacred Oratory, — its dangers, 186. 
Sacred Poetry, — its influence, 107. 
Salvation, — meaning in Scripture, 101. 
Sanctification, — its different senses, 101. 
Scripture, — intelligible, 17 ; definite, 18 ; plain, 21 ; progressive, 31 ; sense 

to be ascertained, 64. 
Shadows of the Past, 128. 
Silences of Scripture to be observed, 190. 
Smith (Dr. Pye) on Interpretation, 71. 

Stanley (Dr.) on the Mcene Council, 117 ; on the Creed, 119. 
Subscriptions to the Epistles, 17"6. 
Teaching essential to acquisition, 191. 

Technical terms in Scripture, 96 ; enumerated and explained, 97—101. 
Time, — must be devoted to Scripture, 190. 
"Translators of English Version, — not free, 102. 
Truth, — its supreme importance, 41. 

Typical Interpretation, 90 ; its extravagances, 92 ; 94 ; 95. 
Vincent (of Lerins), — his rule, 4. 

Whately (Archbishop) on the craving for infallibilit}^, 40 ; 139. 
AVilliams (Dr. Rowland),— errors relating to the Holy Spirit, 37, 
Wordsworth (Dr. Christopher), — Church Authority, 113 ; reading Scripture, 

113; the Creeds, 114; the Church, 114; on Nicene Creed and 

Council, 116. 



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